The Covenant II: Resurrection
by Enchantable
Summary: There have always been rules, there have never been those stupid enough to break them. Now the Covenant has until Tyler Ascends to find a way to bring Chase back or its all over. Its okay to skip the Introduction, it's just history.
1. Introduction

_Power is a dangerous thing._

_We realized that very early on, too much power was never a good thing, there must be a balance. The Ancient Laws were written before memory, at the very start of the power. We were given consciousness, the ability to adapt and change with a power that would do the same long after our creators and enforcers had departed this world._

_Envoys, guides for those blessed with the power came next. For our creators never found a way to allow us an actual form. They speak for us, they enforce us, they do what we cannot. For hundreds of years, there has been no use for us, the power was content to infuse others and they were content to follow the laws to a degree that satisfied us._

_A fallen Envoy begun a personal crusade. In time it became a full fledged war. Today they call themselves Witch Hunters, their mission is to hunt down and kill all manner of Supernatural beings. Witches is a loose term now. They are the more extreme version of the Envoys. Unfortunately the Envoys fall under their heading of Supernatural. _

_For everyone's protection, the power went underground. The Envoys went to sleep and for two hundred years we waited, praying that there would not be a use for us anymore. So far, that has been the case._

_Until now._

_The Covenant of Ipswitch has broken several very big laws in the past three days, the biggest offense which is throwing off the Balance. It has been felt all over the world and other Covenants are out for blood. The Covenant of Ipswitch has always been too powerful for its own good, but their silence has kept them from retribution. However, killing another member of the Covenant and throwing off the Balance is something that cannot be ignored. _

_Action must be taken._

_Two Envoys have been awoken and sent to fix the problem. Whether they make it or not, we do not know. The Witch Hunters are out for blood, spurred on by the promise of eliminating a powerful threat to their way of life. Understand, Willing power is not strictly forbidden but it is dangerous and the elder Danvers was not the first member of his Covenant to end his Addiction in that manner. _

_It doesn't help that two of them are in love, going so far as to break the silence. It is strictly against the Laws. If the Envoys cannot fix this, then we must intervene and restore the balance through it. It is a horrible way to end life, but it must be done if the fifth member is truly dead. _

_PIty, because the Covenant of Ipswitch holds more potential than anyone could have foreseen. Hopefully this will not end badly, but if it does than life will go on._

_It always has. _


	2. The Envoy and the Warlocks

The Envoy was many things.

A fool was not one of them.

A she looked down at the young man who had collapsed upon entering the mansion she knew she was in for a lot of trouble. Oh she had known it for a while, if days could be considered a while. She crouched down next to him, looking at him. He had dark shadows under his eyes, as if he hadn't been sleeping. His cloths were soaked through with rain and sweat, ash blended into the carpet. She knew that when his hair dried it would be as black as the picture she had been sent.

"Oh Mr. Danvers," she said touching his shoulders, "Mr. Danvers can you hear me?"

He came to with a ragged inhale, his eyes not focusing on anything. Satisfied she directed his arm around her neck and took half his weight on herself. Together they made it up the stairs. She dropped him onto his bed where he fell onto his back, his eyes struggling to stay open. She tugged off his jacket, shirt and tie, throwing them onto the floor. She reached down and tugged off his pants, dragging a pair of sweatpants onto his frame. She guided his body onto the bed and pulled the covers over him, tucking them around him.

"I hate my life," she muttered walking down the stairs and into the main living room.

A fire was burning in the fireplace, roaring far more cheerily than before. She saw a woman in front of a chair, doubled over. She was still wearing her black coat, her brown hair in disarray. She clutched a silk scarf like a lifeline, sobbing into it. It took Sonya a full minuet before she recognized what had once been Evelyn Danvers. She walked over to the woman on the carpet and sat down next to her. Evelyn pulled her head up but didn't seem to recognize her.

"I am an Envoy" she said looking at her. She heard Evelyn's sharp inhale, "shh, easy, I'm not hear to hurt you or your family--or your Covenant for that matter," she saw the doubt, "I swear it, you have my word that no harm will come to you or your son tonight."

"Then why are you here?" Evelyn questioned.

"I can't tell you that," she said, her voice soft, "I'm sorry but I can't. Just know that I'm not hear to hurt anyone," she got to her feet, "your son's upstairs," she stepped over to the door and out into the night.

...Later...

Caleb Danvers awoke with a choking gasp, wrenched from his sleep violently. He threw his covers off and lurched to his knees in bed, breathing hard. He was alone, the sun was bright in his room. He fell back breathing hard, almost painfully. Rolling off his bed, he placed his feet on the ground and put his head between his legs, running his hands over the back of his neck.

"Caleb."

Caleb turned around to see Pogue standing there. He looked awful but alive none the less, most likely he had Used to get better. Caleb nodded and stood upp, walking over to his dresser and throwing on a shirt. Pogue seemed to know that Caleb was not up for talking, he just followed Caleb down the stairs and led him into the living room where the entire Covenant was assembled along with a new member who was talking to his mother.

"Mr. Danvers," she said turning around, "glad your up, you've been asleep for the past two days," she continued, "we didn't get to meet formally, I'm a representative, here to assess the situation."

"Where's Sarah and Kate?"

"Ms. Wenham and Ms. Tunny don't need to be present for this," she said, "this has to do with the four of you," she looked down, "I'm getting the feeling that you don;t understand the magnitude of your actions. You have disrupted a balance that has been in place for centuries and for better or worse that balance must be restored."

"No spell can bring back the dead," Pogue growled.

"Well I'd say we have a serious problem then" she said crossing her arms, "do you really think that of you are the first to war with each other? Your Covenant is famous for its inter-warring and we have been happy to let it stay that way. It's a blessing really because with you busy fighting internally we don't have to worry about you fighting the rest of the world," she shook her head, "besides the point. Your decision to kill--this ability to kill a member of your Covenant has thrown off the balance. Your far more powerful than we could have anticipated and because of that the rest of the world has felt it. Death will come swiftly, and it will not stop until the four of you are dead and the Covenant is ended."

"So what do we do?" Evelyn questioned, "if he was the last--"

"When he's ready, I can probe his memories, see if Mr. Pope is truly dead. If he is, I'm sorry to say, there is nothing we can do about it and your Covenant will be eliminated," she looked at Caleb, "he's not ready though, not for a few more days. I suggest you all finish recovering because if Mr. Pope did survive we don't have a lot of time and if he didn't we have even less. I'll be in touch."

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Tyler said looking at the fireplace, "is there any way that Chase could've survived?"

"They couldn't find the body," Caleb said running a hand over his face, "but there was a fire so I don't," his voice trailed off, "I'm not--" he sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the world lurch.

"That's enough, lets get him upstairs," Reid said picking p one arm as Tyler took the other and they got their leader upstairs and into his bed. He passed out before he got there, "this is bad," Reid said coming downstairs, "it's been three days, is he supposed to go to sleep for that long?" he demanded looking at Evelyn.

"His father slept for two," she offered, "but I don't know."

"We need the other families," Pogue said closing his eyes, "we need them now. This concerns everyone."

"I'll make the calls," she said standing up and walking out of the room.

Down the road, the Envoy pulled over to the side and got out of her car on the rubble that was the old Putnam barn. Waiting for her there was her contact, dressed in thigh high suede boots, a skirt and a green shirt. She was crouched over the rubble, looking around for something. The Envoy stepped forward and looked at her. She nodded and kicked a piece of rubble with her toe.

The Envoy shook her head and the other rolled her eyes, tucking her hands into her pockets and walking off. The Envoy knelt in the rubble and ran a hand over the dirt and ash. She dug her fingers into the dirt and picked up a handful, sifting through it. Underneath it she found a piece of blackened glass. Picking it up, she turned it over with her hand and slowly smiled.

Back at the dorms, Sonya Kendrick unloaded the last bag she had and put it in the single room she had been given. Truthfully she wouldn't have minded a room mate but what she wanted had never been much of a concern. She had made up her room bag by bag with the ease of someone who was used to changing locations. She kept the leather bag zipped up and pulled open her closet, stuffing it in the back behind her new school uniforms.

"I hate my life," she muttered unzipping one boot and glancing over at her jangling phone, "I really really hate my life," she continued hanging up on the caller and tugging off the other boot. There was a knock at the door, "hello?"

"Sorry, I live next door," the voice came through.

SOnya got to her feet and pulled open the door to reveal a pretty blond girl with long hair. She wore a tank top and a pair of jeans. There was a fresh mark on her cheek, as if she had been cut recently.

"Hi," she said slowly.

"Hi, I'm Sarah," the girl said sticking out her hand.

"Sonya," Sonya said shaking it.

"I'm sorry but I was wondering if you had any aloe?" she said, "I know it's weird but I don't want to go down to the infirmary."

"Yeah," Sonya said, "come inside. Sorry for the mess, I just finished moving in," she continued rummaging through her bathroom and pulling out her first aide kit. She got the aloe out.

"Thanks," Sarah said, "so you just got here? Where'd you transfer from?"

"New York City," she said, "my parents decided that three High Schools was more than enough for me."

"Well if you want to hang out, I'm just to the right," she said standing up.

"Thanks, nice to meet you," Sonya said.

Sarah walked out of the room and Sonya went into the bathroom to put away her first aide kit. On her desk her phone continued to buzz annoyingly. Finally Sonya walked over to her phone and shut it off for a moment. Bracing her hands, she closed her eyes and grabbed the phone, turning it back on. It began to buzz almost instantly and she threw it in a drawer, locking it securely. Grabbing her jacket, she shrugged it on and headed out of the room.


	3. The Return of Sarah

It was almost time to leave. Pogue squinted at the clock through his one good eyes and told himself Using to make the time pass was not a good idea. But it was very very tempting. He had to talk to Kate who was still being treated in the hospital. Then he had to go and visit Caleb who was too exhausted to even think about leaving his house, much less come to school. He looked at the clock again and swore.

Sarah didn't even bother to tell him to be quiet. She was just as, if not more, anxious to get to the Danvers house. She hadn't seen Caleb since the night of the battle. Though it had only been five days, she wanted to get over there. But she couldn't. What could she possibly say to him? Oh Caleb thanks for including me in your family secret, by the way if someone tries to kill me again to piss you off, any advice? But the fact that the other Sons were back and he wasn't made her realize that something was going on.

Finally the bell rang and Sarah almost wept with relief. She jerked up and raced after Pogue who had bolted even faster, but she couldn't catch him. Racing back to her room, she threw on jeans and a t-shirt before running down to the parking lot students kept their cars. Thankfully her car started and she peeled out of the parking lot and raced down the street.

She made it to the Danvers Manor in record time and ran up the stairs. She pounded on the door enough to wake the house, not caring that it was terribly rude. The door opened to reveal Evelyn Danvers ad Sarah dropped her fist, immediately regretting the racket.

"Evelyn, whose at the door?" a female voice said.

"Come in," she said, "I'm afraid you've caught me at a bad time. Caleb's upstairs, third door to the left," she added.

"Thank you," Sarah said walking up the stairs.

Evelyn walked back into the room and looked around at what remained of their Covenant. Three women sat there each dressed very finely. The men had all fallen into the same trap that her husband had, leaving their sons and wives to deal with the family legacy. Standing at the fireplace, the Envoy look at them one by one.

"I need to know what you do," she said, "I especially need to know what your husbands told you about the Ancient Laws. I ask this because I need to fill in the missing pieces. To go into this blindly would be very foolish. You see your sons are in danger, this cannot play out well, either way," she looked up, "excuse me."

...Upstairs...

Sarah stopped at the door, finding it closed and laid a hand against it, closing her eyes. With a deep breath, she pushed open the door and stepped inside, closing it behind her silently. Caleb was on his bed, the covers pulled over him. He was drenched with sweat, his face almost gaunt in the light. She thought she was being strong by staying away but looking at him there, she felt her heart tug painfully.

"Oh Caleb," she whispered crossing the room and dropping to her knees. She closed her eyes and shook her head, not sure what to do. She reached out but drew her hands back. To her shame, she found herself trying not to cry and failing miserably, "please be okay."

"Sarah?"

Sarah turned her head down to see Caleb looking at her, his eyes struggling to focus. She gasped and buried her face in his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him tightly. She felt Caleb try to reach up but pushed him down and pulled back slightly. Caleb tried to push himself up and failed miserably.

"No, I'm being silly, you need rest," she said shaking her head, "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner, I just--I didn't know what to say or do--" she wiped her cheeks, "here I go again."

"I'm glad your here now," Caleb said, "I'm sick of not being able to move, Pogue was in a motorcycle accident and he's out."

"Caleb you had a battle with a supernatural entity," she said, looking up as the door opened and the Envoy stepped inside, drawing back her hands as if to form an attack.

"Touch here and I swear to God I'll kill you," Caleb said pushing himself up.

"She knows?" The Envoy questioned, "you told a High School Fling?" she demanded, "does the term Covenant of Silence mean anything to you?!" she turned away before turning back, "so you're a part of this now, does anyone else know?"

"No," Caleb said falling back against the pillows.

"Keep it that way," The Envoy snapped storming out, "I'm going to go through your memories tomorrow."

Sarah looked down at Caleb who closed his eyes hard enough for a few tears to leak out of one. She reached forward and wiped it away. He opened his eyes and looked at her. She smiled and trailed her hand down his cheek, laying her palm flat against the sweat covered skin. Leaning forward, she brushed her lips against his before laying her head on his shoulder.

"We have to bring him back, if he's alive," he said, his voice soft.

"I'll be here when you do," she said, "I promise," she closed her eyes and felt his hand tighten around hers under the blankets.

...At the Hospital...

Pogue had never been one to show his emotions, not in any real sense. He wore his cool indifference like a jacket. But anyone could see that he was absolutely heartbroken at the sight of Kate, lying like some sleeping princess in a hospital bed. The doctor approached him and once again he was very grateful to Kate's family for letting him get updates.

"Hello Mr. Parry," he said.

"Why is she still sleeping?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from her and looking at the doctor.

"Ms. Tunney is very weak from the shock. Her body needs time to recover. Its best if she sleeps. We're giving her a mild sedative, she should be up soon. We'll let you know when she comes out of it," the doctor said kindly.

"Thank you," Pogue said, "can I--"

"Of course, talk to the nurse and she'll get you set up," he said.

Five minuets later Pogue was in scrubs, completely sterile and sitting beside Kate's bed. The doctors wanted to keep her isolated so she didn't have any more reactions. He looked behind himself and carefully pulled off a glove, reaching out and touching her hand. There was so much he wanted to tell her, needed to tell her. He had been lying to her for two years. Caleb finds a girl in five minuets and tells her everything, it takes Pogue two years and one supernatural attack to figure out that the love of his life is right in front of him.

He was an idiot. Bowing his head, he let his eyes glow black and gently pushed the power over her. The raw red and purple bites faded slightly, her breathing hitched slightly but then evened out as her feverish dreams slowly turned pleasant. Her skin cooled as her fever began to break. She turned her face to his and he reached out and touched her cheek softly, the bites fading even faster. He stopped before they went away fully.

"Sleep, beautiful," he whispered brushing his lips against her cheek, "I have to go but I'll be here when you wake up. I--" he bit his lip and closed his eyes, drawing his hands back, "get better soon."

...Some time later...

Sarah tapped her pen against the books her eyes staring at the word 'die' over and over. She closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose, looking up for a distraction and found Sonya standing amongst the shelves, her eyes scanning over the blurb of a book. Gratefully Sarah stood up and headed over.

"Anything interesting?" she asked.

"Oh just ancient history," Sonya said closing the book, "how are you?"

"Good, and you?" she asked.

"Hey Sarah," Pogue said coming into the library, "I just got back from visiting Kate."

"How is she?" Sarah asked.

"The doctors want to keep her sedated for a little longer, let her sleep through most of the pain," he said looking at Sonya, "whose this?"

"This is Sonya Kendrick, she lives next door," she said, "Sonya this is Pogue Parry, the two over there are Tyler Sims and Reid Garwin," she continued pointing them out, "Sonya just got here from New York City."

"Mid-year transfer," Pogue said, "thats interesting. Any reason?"

"My parents were moving," she said, "they decided that I should stay in one high school for the rest of the term," she shrugged, "and here I am."

"Here you are," Reid said leaning against the bookcase, "Ried Garwin."

"Don't tell her she looks like your grandmother," Sarah whispered jokingly.

"Sonya Kendrick," she said gripping his hand, "and don't try it," she said, "I don't do blonds."

...Later...

Sarah's car tore down the road as fast as she had ever gone. Tears still raced down her cheeks and she had only taken a minuet to thrown on pants and shoes before running out of the dorm room. Shuddering at her dream, she stopped the car and turned it off, not even locking the door as she raced up the stairs and pounded on the door.

"Sarah?" Evelyn gasped pulling open the door, "what happened?"

"I need to see Caleb," she said wrapping her arms around herself, "please."

"Upstairs," Evelyn said.

"Thank you," Sarah said running up the stairs.

She found the door and pushed it open, not stopping until she saw Caleb's sleeping form. She closed her eyes and leaned against the door, looking up at the ceiling to try and stem the tears dripping down her cheeks. She heard Caleb inhale and heard him push himself up. Before she could say 'no', he was towering over her. She closed her eyes and leaned into his hand as he cupped her cheek, wiping her tears with his thumb.

She opened her eyes and looked at his face, the questioning look in his eyes. She felt her tears start anew, closing her eyes. He came to her and carefully wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him, feeling her tears soak into his bare shoulder. She couldn't make out what he was saying but she felt his chest vibrate with the movement of his words.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice muffled, "but I had to see that you were okay. If you bring back Chase, something terrible is going to happen, I can feel it."

"I won't let it," he said and laughed softly, "i say that and look at me, I couldn't even light a candle right now."

"You're strong," Sarah said, "so much stronger than you think."

"Only because my father sacrificed himself. He died so I could kill Chase," he said, "And now I might have killed us all."

"No," she said harshly, "he died so you could live."

"I just--" Caleb bowed his head, "I know he wasn't around but I always knew he was there. My mother won't talk about it, no-one will talk about it. It's like he never existed."

Sarah couldn't find anything to say. She just pulled him against her, pushing his head into her shoulder. She felt him stiffen at first, his hands opened and closed. She tightened her arms around him and whispered that it was okay. She felt him shudder, heard his voice catch and felt the hot tears flow onto her shoulder. His weight took them to the ground and they fell in a tangle of limbs. Sarah held his shaking form as he sobbed, clutching her like a lifeline. She rocked him back and forth humming softly and holding him tightly.


	4. Revelations and the Clash

Sarah woke up with the sun streaming across her face. Her face was buried against Caleb's shoulder, a hand on his chest. One of his arms was wrapped around her, the other was across his chest, one hand covering hers. She blinked and looked around. They were lying on the floor, in Caleb's house. Pushing herself up, she was careful not to wake Caleb knowing he needed sleep desperately. He sighed and pulled her back, tightening his hold. She laughed and put her head on his chest again, trailing her fingers down his chest.

They were still almost strangers. She knew that in the back of her mind, but she realized that they had only met a few weeks ago. She knew he cared about her, the fact that Chase used her to get to him was only further proof of that. But it was like they had skipped all the little things. She didn't know if he slept with his covers on or off, how he took his coffee--if he like spicy foods. And almost worse, he didn't know her little quirks either. What if he found out at completely hated her? Yet, for some reason, she knew she was going to be with him on some level for the rest of her life. She hated to admit it, hated the idea that she cared so much about someone she barely knew, but for some reason when it came to Caleb Danvers she wasn't afraid.

"Hey," Caleb said opening his eyes.

"Hey," she said looking up at him, "how are you feeling?"

"What's wrong?" he asked, bypassing the question and noticing the look on her face.

"Does it," she sighed, "does it bother you that we don't really know anything about each other?" she shook her head, "I'm being silly."

"No, you're right," Caleb said, his fingers running through her hair, "I know how I feel about you."

"Me too," she said, "but I mean the little stuff, those things that make us, well, us. I don't know how you take your coffee, or if you keep the covers on, or what your favorite color is," she looked at him, "see, I told you, I'm being silly."

"No," he said, "it's just, with everything there wasn't any time."

"I know," she said trying to fight the horrible feeling.

"What's this about?" he asked, trying hard not to smile.

"I mean, I don't know anything about you--not really. I don't know your quirks, you don't know mine--what if you find out and completely hate me?"

"I'm not going to hate you," he said shaking his head, "and besides, we have a lot of time to learn this stuff about each other," he continued.

"Right," she looked out the window, "I should get to the dorms, I have to do something before the Envoy--" she stood up and walked over to the door, "I'll come back later."

"Wait," he said getting to his feet. He knew he was about to sound very stupid but didn't care, "I sleep with the covers half on, unless I'm sick or it's hot or cold out," he said shaking his head in disbelief at how it sounded, "I don't like coffee unless it's really sweet, my mom always used to give me tea," Sarah felt herself grin and bit her lip, "despite the large amount of black I wear, my favorite color is blue," he looked up to see that she was standing there, "well what about you?"

"Covers on," she said turning around and smiling widely, "I like my coffee really sweet too and my favorite color is green."

"You're right, I can't speak to you again," he joked putting on his best mock serious face.

"Oh alright," she laughed turning to go. He took her wrist, pulled her back gently and pressed his lips to hers, releasing her wrist to wrap his arms around her. She slowly deepened the kiss, wrapping his arms around his neck, "what about no talking?" she asked breaking the kiss, breathless.

"Who said anything about talking?" he asked moving in again.

"You have to rest," she said pushing him back, "I'll see you tonight."

...Later...

"Thats bullshit!"

"Maybe if you red the book you'd know its actually the right answer!"

Tyler groaned and looked at the librarian desperately. She ignored the ruckus that was being made for some reason. On one end of the table, Sonya stood with her arms braced, gripping the sides of the table. Reid stood on the other in the exact same stance as they yelled furiously at each other. Books formed the dividing line and for the umpteenth time Tyler wondered why their professor decided that pairing the two of them together was anything but a death sentence.

Sonya had proven in 24 hours to be essentially Reid with female organs and brown hair. She had wreaked havoc on school but the words money and power hovered around her like a shield. Yet that didn't stop her from being a royal pain in the ass to Reid and a fascination to everyone else. Mid-year transfers were rare and ones from out of state were even rarer. The fascination just served to anger Reid even more.

"I swear to God if you make me come over there I will beat you within an inch of your life!"

"Oh threats now? How classy of you. Besides, I don't hit girls," he snapped.

"You're lucky I don't I hit boys," she said storming around the table.

"As if you could," Reid snapped.

Sonya opened her mouth to say something and then closed it. Grabbing her books, she stuffed them violently into her bag and didn't walk so much as stormed out of the library. Reid snorted and picked up the book, turning it over and looking at the paragraph before closing it angrily and grabbing another book, turning it over.

...Later still...

The Covenant was assembled in the room. Pogue stood protectively by Sarah. Caleb was lying on the floor, on a white blanket that had been spread out, trying to even out his breathing. The Envoy was standing nearby, talking to a phone. She closed it and walked over to them.

"Alright," she said, "now Caleb, this is going to hurt," she looked at Sarah and back at him, "and your certain you want her here?"

"Yes," Caleb said looking at Sarah.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said looking at Caleb and the Envoy squarely.

"Very well," the Envoy said, "now Caleb, I need you to relax. Close your eyes and just relax."

Caleb nodded and closed his eyes, breathing in and out steadily. The Envoy walked forward and knelt down, placing her knees on either side of his thighs. She placed her hands on his forehead and closed her eyes, bending forward. She spread her hands out, drawing a line from his forehead to his hands and from his hands to his feet in a sort of pentagon. She drew her hands up and placed them in the center of the pentagon, drawing them upwards. The lines glowed faintly, changing from blue, to black and back again.

She hesitated a fraction before plunging her hands through the center and pressing them into his Solar Plexus. The lines turned gold at the same time Caleb sucked in his breath sharply. She pressed her hands down firmly and closed her eyes, connecting them. Caleb inhaled sharply, his hands opening and closing against the blanket, his toes pointing and curling in agony. He screamed through clenched teeth but his body remained mostly stationary.

Finally the Envoy jerked back, cutting the connection. Caleb followed her up, screaming as he did. He fell back, the Envoy catching his head and guiding it back down. Caleb's eyes spun and rolled up as he slipped away into unconsciousness. The Envoy stood up and nodded, satisfied. She walked over to the table and made a phone call.

"Congratulations," she said, "you're all going to live, at least for the time being," she said, "you have until the youngest, Tyler ascends. That is all the time you have to bring Chase Collins back and restore the balance."

"We've got some bigger issues here," Pogue snapped looking at Caleb.

"I couldn't agree more, you have three months to do this," she said, "I'll find Chase Collins, what's left of him, and you will prepare to bring him back. Of course there will be an insurance plan," she continued, "but more of that later, for now get ready."

...Later...

Evelyn walked up the stairs and stopped at the doorway of her son's room. The Envoy had released him into feverish nightmares. Sarah sat on the edge of his bed, running a cold washcloth over his face. Evelyn looked down and saw that the covers were on Caleb, but only to his waist. Sarah wiped the sweat off his brow, her eyes searching his face.

"It doesn't get easier," Evelyn said, not unkindly, walking into the room, "watching them Use, watching them die a little more each day because of this power. Husbands, sons--being a Wife of Ipswitch is not a happy position."

"I know," Sarah said softly, looking at Caleb, "why did you do it?"

"I loved James," Evelyn said, "I knew he was Using, I watched him die a little each day and no matter what I did nothing made him better. But the hardest part was watching Caleb, answering his questions as to where his father was. When he turned 13 I begged every God I knew to spare him but," she shrugged her shoulders, "you should get some sleep," she said.

"I don't want to leave him," Sarah admitted.

"Then stay," Evelyn said kindly, "I'll make sure Spencer knows the two of you are sick."

"Thank you," she said.

Evelyn nodded and slipped out of the room. She headed for her bedroom and reached up on a shelf for the black velvet box. She pulled off her engagement ring and slipped it into the box, closing it. She brought the box to her chest and closed her eyes, breathing in. She had been Sarah's age when she met James, and now her son was following the same path it seemed. She just prayed that he would prove her wrong.

"Goodbye James," she said placing the box on the dresser and getting into bed.


	5. The Truth

"Okay what's going on?"'

It had been an awful two weeks but finally Kate had been released from the hospital. It had taken everything Pogue had not to go in there and heal her. All he could do was lay little bits of power on her when he got into the room, letting her heal faster. Chase had really done a number on her, of course he had Used unabashedly to get better faster. Kate didn't have that luxury--yet.

Now she stood before him in a simple light blue dress that made her look so good he never wanted to tear his eyes away. They were standing in the grass outside his house and he was about to do what was either the stupidest or the bravest thing he had ever done. Kate could tell something was up, she could always tell. It was some weird chick thing Pogue could never figure out.

"Its about Caleb," he said, "and Reid, and Tyler and me," he sighed, "and Chase," he added reluctantly, "you know how i always told you that the family history was just a load of crap?" Kate nodded, "well lied. It's not. Pretty much every single thing in that book is true."

"Why are you telling me this now?" she asked, not missing a beat, "I mean after two years--"

"He used you against me," Pogue said cutting her off, "you were hurt because Chase knew about my feelings for you."

"And what, exactly, are those feelings?" Kate demanded, "who do they belong to? I don't even know you. Everything for the last two years has been nothing but a lie! You lied to me--" she shook her head, "don't say to protect me because that obviously didn't work. You lied to me for the past two years," she repeated, "I don't know who you are."

And then, in that beautiful Kate Tunny way, she picked up her heart and walked away from Pogue. She had brought her car because the term 'we need to talk' usually had only one conclusion. She turned around to see Pogue struggling with some emotion but kept her own in check.

"I won't tell," she said before getting into the car and driving away.

Pogue ran his hands through his hair, cursing himself for imagining any other outcome. Truthfully he had expected her to tell him he was nuts, the accident had hit him a lot harder. He could prove his powers, he could make her understand. But as he watched her drive away, he realized that it was going to be a lot harder than he had thought. He needed advice, he needed help, he needed Kate back.

He arrived at Caleb's house a few minuets later, knowing he'd find him there. He nodded at Evelyn who put a hand on his shoulder.

"Caleb's in the shower," she said, "Sarah's in the living room, I'll tell you when he's out."

"Thank you," Pogue said and headed into the living room.

He knew Sarah had been out of school for the day and he knew, somehow, that she would be here. Sure enough she was dressed in the same cloths as yesterday, her hair pulled up in the same kind of messy ponytail that Kate usually wore when she didn't want to be bothered with her hair. Sarah had her hands wrapped around a mug of coffee and her eyes were focused on the fire.

"Hey Pogue," she said looking up.

"Hey," he said sitting next to her and running a hand over his face.

"Are you--" she trailed off and bit her lip gently, "you told her, didn't you?" he nodded, "she ran off," he nodded again, "and you want her back."

"I--" he shook his head, "its like I can't breathe without her. I mean, I thought this was just a High School relationship."

"It's okay," Sarah said, "what happened?"

He told her quickly and hung his head, "when Caleb told you, why didn't you freak out?"

"I did, kind of," she said, "inside. Even so, there are times when I don't think I've really dealt with the idea of it, the idea that Caleb's got this power inside him that could kill him. When I'm away from him, it's different," neither noticed Evelyn appear at the top of the stairs, "when I'm not here I feel like I'm myself again, that the past few weeks have all been a dream," she smiled faintly and looked at the cup, "but then I come back here and I realize that what I feel for Caleb, I know that I can deal with anything as long as I know he's there," she looked at Pogue, "have you told Kate?"

"Told her what?" he asked.

"That you can't breathe without her. That Chase used her to get to you because you're in love with her?"

"No," he admitted softly.

"Tell her," she suggested, "Kate's probably just very scared right now. I mean, if I had been dating Caleb for two years and he just one day told me that he had this power, I would be."

"So what? I burst in with flowers and say 'I'm sorry I lied to you and Caleb just told Sarah the truth within the first weeks of their relationship, please take me back because I'm madly in love with you?'," he asked sarcastically. Sarah gave him a look, "your serious."

"She's going to want a declaration of love," she said, "remember the two of you were fighting over your jealousy before," she continued, "and I would tell her the whole truth, not just the part about the powers, but the part about the powers and what they do to you."

"I just, I don't know if I can," Pogue said, "I know it's not what you want to here but the men who came before us left a lot of broken hearts. Caleb's had his father around, a reminder of what he could become. None of us want to be our fathers but it would kill me to see Kate," he hung his head, "I've never told her because I didn't want it to be like that."

"Then don't let it," Sarah said, "you're strong, you can fight it."

"Caleb's always been the strongest," Pogue said looking at her, "I don't know why but he always has been. He's determined to never be his father."

"There must have been something good about him," Sarah said, "I hear all these terrible things, but it couldn't have been all bad."

"It wasn't," Pogue said, "from the stories I heard he started out normally. Of course Reid's dad was the elder back then. But James was, James was supposed to be fantastic. Just one of those guys you always wanted to hang around. He was powerful too, but initially he had it under control. He was the first one to fall to the Addiction and I think it came as a shock to everyone. He didn't become a true Addict until right after Caleb was born," he looked at Sarah's face, "Caleb won't do that, he's had this, I guess fear is the right word, for his powers hammered into him by his mother."

"She told me, she told me that loving Caleb would break my heart," Sarah said hanging her head.

"Hey," Pogue said tiling her head up, "Caleb is in love with you, he won't let that happen."

...Library...

Reid glanced over at the paper out of the corner of his eye. With an eye roll Sonya lifted her arm so he could see the words written down. Over the other side of the table Tyler shrugged and turned a page in his book. The two had reached some kind of truce, probably in the detention room where they both spent an alarmingly large amount of time. The fact that she had publicly humiliated Aaron certainly didn't hurt.

Upstairs, Sarah found Kate sobbing on her bed, muttering about how stupid she was not to know anything, somehow knowing that Sarah was already clued in. Sarah could say nothing to her friend. She just listen to Kate, knowing that her heart was breaking.

On the bridge, Pogue sat on the stone side, looking at the water. His bike was parked a few feet away. He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. He closed his eyes and tried to figure it out how he was going to do this. It had been two hours since Kate had walked away from him and he knew the agony he was feeling wasn't going to go away.

He kicked his bike into life and shot off towards Spencer. He made it faster than he thought possible and parked, turning off and locking his bike before running up the stairs as fast as he could. He stopped in front of her door and turned, getting five steps before coming back. Finally he head to the door and raised his fist. Sarah opened the door with a gentle smile and stepped out grinning encouragingly.

"Who--" Kate straitened up and wiped her cheeks, "what do you want?"

Pogue felt his heart clench. She had been crying--he had made her cry.

"You," he said, "I was an idiot. I didn't tell you because I thought we were a High School relationship. I thought that you'd find someone better and move on, I thought after graduation we'd never see each other again," she regarded him suspiciously, but she didn't interrupt so he continued, "but when I found out you were in the hospital, when you walked away from me--my heart was breaking. I know I don't do the 'boyfriend' things you want me too, but Kate," he stopped, frustrated, "Kate I'm in love with you. I can't breathe without you, I can't imagine tomorrow without yo--"

She grabbed him and pressed her lips to his almost desperately. His eyes widened, not expecting the action but his eyes closed and he pulled her close to him. Her lips were salty from the tears she'd shed and he silently vowed to never make her cry again.

"Thats what I wanted to hear," she whispered when they pulled apart, "because I'm in love with you, Pogue, all of you. From that stupid Bike to whatever this power is. I never wanted the boyfriend thing, I just wanted you."

Pogue pulled her against him, closing his eyes and tightening his arms around her, silently thanking whatever God had decided that he deserved another chance with her. She pulled back and wiped her cheeks again. He brushed the tears away, first with his thumbs and then with his lips which found hers again. When they broke apart breathing hard. Pogue had to smile which Kate returned.

"Wait," Pogue said, "i have to tell you what you're getting into, I don't want you going into this without knowing."

"Alright," Kate said softly.

Pogue sat down and she sat next to him. He closed his eyes , bracing his hands against the bed. He felt one of hers come and wrap around his own. He turned to face her, opening his eyes. She reached over and cupped his face, brushing his cheekbone with her thumbs.

"It wasn't what you lied to me about," she whispered, "it was that you lied," she said keeping her hands where they were, "I love you Pogue, and I'm not going anywhere--" she ducked her head, "unless you've got some other lie you'd like to clear up."

"I've been in love with you since the day I met you," he said honestly, "I was just too stupid to see it. I should have told you, I should have told you before Chase, before all of this. And I am so sorry that I didn't," he closed and then opened his eyes, "but I need to tell you about this power and what it means, for us."

"Alright," she said wrapping her hands around his.

...Later...

The blue dress was gone. Wearing a dress was a bad idea for riding Pogue's bike, a lesson Kate had learned. So she was wearing slacks and a silk shirt under a jacket. Pogue pulled the bike over and stepped off of it. He lifted her off the bike with a smile and kissed her gently. He took her hand and led her inside. Just inside the main room, Caleb was standing wearing loose pants and an undershirt. Next t to him Sarah stood wearing pants and a shirt, her hair tucked behind her ears. Her face broke into a wide grin at the sight of Pogue and Kate, and she whispered something to Caleb who turned and smiled.

"Hey," Pogue said, "did we miss anything?"

"No," Caleb said, "the Envoy's been talking to them for a while."

"Is my mother inside?" Pogue asked.

"Yes," he said, looking at Pogue and Kate, a grin tugging at his features.

"What's going on?" Kate asked looking at the three of them.

"Come on," Pogue said tugging her hand, "I want you to meet my mother," he continued, "and the rest of the older generation of the Covenant," he felt his face break into a wide smile, "and the Envoy whose making our lives a little more interesting."

Sarah expected Kate to back off, freak out. But to their surprise, Kate blushed and nodded, straitening her jacket and smoothing her hair before taking Pogue's hand and following him into the room. Sarah smiled brightly and laced her fingers with Caleb's.

"I think they're going to be okay," she said.

"I think so too," Caleb said.

Back in the library, the lights were bright though outside the sun was long since dark. Sonya had always loved the libraries. It was comforting to think that all the answers could be found there, even if she knew better now. Against her ankle, her bag vibrated, though it was silent thanks to the cloth wrapped around the device. Sonya's fingers tapped against the side of the table, her eyes scanning the pages of the book.

"Anything good?" Tyler asked sitting next to her

"Nothing I can't live without," she said looking up and closing the book, "its a little late, isn't it?"

"You're here," Tyler said, "the library isn't closed."

"You're right, sorry if that was rude," she closed her eyes, "I don't understand how they come up with so much work to give us."

"Welcome to senior year," he said.

"So the Sons of Ipswitch, I hear that name everywhere around this place," she said closing her book, "and then I heard about the mysterious fifth member, Mr. Collins," she closed her book, "how is it that two students die within a few weeks of each other?"

"Accidents," Tyler said, "they were both accidents."

"I wonder what I've gotten myself into," she said tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Do you think you should've stayed with your parents?" Tyler asked curiously.

"I didn't have much of a choice," she said fingering the spine of the book, "I thought changing schools again would stink."

"Well I don't think you're in danger of dying," he said.

"You know," she said standing up, "I haven't met this Caleb yet, but out of all of the Sons I have met, you really sound the wisest, or maybe, just the oldest," she shrugged, "funny because you're the baby of the group. I'll see you later."

Tyler watched her go, an unsettling feeling pricking at him.


	6. The Garwin Family Secret

"You will have until Tyler Ascends, maybe and I mean maybe a minuet afterwards. And just Using isn't going to cut it. You're going to have to have a spell. You're going to have to write a spell and use it in your mind to resurrect him."

The Envoy was giving them their directions She had always dressed finely in loose, flowing garments that walked the line between earth-real and modern. This was the first time they had seen her dressed as what they imagined she should look. She was wearing a loose dress the color of pale gold that billowed around her showing the outline of her limbs but nothing indecent. Her eyes did not glow in a figurative sense, they burned like the sun, like the bright blue jewels that were somehow fixed on her brow.

"I am going to find whatever Chase Collins is now, I am going to bring him back, but I cannot resurrect him," she bowed her head, "I am sorry for that and sorry for what I must say next. The Balance is still not as it should be, and it is being felt throughout the world. I pled your case, but to no avail," she looked at them, "Witch Hunters are being sent for, as insurance."

"Witch Hunters?" Reid demanded, "Witch Hunters as in--"

"Those trained to murder you, yes. I do not believe there will be a need for them, but the Ancient Laws do not agree. You will see them, feel them even but you cannot engage them just as they cannot engage you," she looked at Sarah and Kate pointedly, "I don't know if the two of you can fight, but do not try to 'save' anyone. Some of the Witch Hunters are more, shall we say, talented than others."

"We won't engage them," Kate said firmly.

"Good, now before I go, there is one final matter," she looked at Reid, "you are Addicted to the Power. I know you have only been Using enough to keep yourself alive but the simple fact is that you cannot Use. None of you can. If you do, there is a chance the Witch Hunters would take that as a declaration of your intentions to not uphold your end. So no Using for any reason. Now you," she said to Reid, "you have to go through Withdrawl, like any other addiction. It will be painful but I have every confidence that you can come through it.

Reid nodded.

"There is a reason for your Addiction, a reason that only recently came to my attention. Your father died when you were very young, correct?"

"Yeah," Reid said shifting uncomfortably.

"Were you aware that he willed you his powers right before his death?"

"He did what?" Reid demanded, fighting the urge to be sick.

"Your father realized he was Addicted, he knew that he was going to die soon and so he willed you his powers before he used them down," she clasped her hands and looked at him.

Reid's face tightened and he stood up, walking out of the room. He ran out of the house entirely and made it down the way before he fell to the ground, heaving. He doubled over, breathing in roughly. The truth was, Reid Garwin was an orphan. His mother had followed his father when he was young. Tyler's family had all but raised him. He had known his father was Addicted, but he had never dreamed that his father had willed him his own share of power.

"Hey," Caleb said coming next to him and sitting down, "well this explains why your an Addict."

"That makes me feel so much better," Reid said sarcastically sitting back.

"It should," Caleb said, "you realize that when you Ascend, your going to be more powerful than Chase or I?"

"I keep forgetting we have to bring him back," Reid said looking at the trees.

"Me too," Caleb sighed, "Pogue won't talk about it, I think he's scared."

"What about you?"

"I'm terrified," Caleb said, "but I know that if we don't bring him back the consequences are way worse."

"Yeah," Reid said, "well I gotta go, Withdraw, see you later."

"Tyler."

Tyler looked up at the Envoy from his position at the window where he was standing watching Reid and Caleb's exchange. She had called him Tyler, not Mr. Sims. The Envoy walked over and stood right in front of him.

"Watch him," she said, "I don't want to come back here and find another one of you dead."

...Back at the dorms...

Sonya was passed out on her bed and the pounding at the door was not welcome at all. She groaned and rolled over, praying that the person on the other end would get the hint and piss off. When whoever it was obviously didn't, she stood up and walked over to the door. She wrenched it open viciously and paused, raising an eyebrow. Tyler started. He knew that most of the girls slept in boyshorts and tank tops but even so. He shook the thought out of his head and squared his shoulders.

"Sarah said you knew first aide," he said.

"I know a little, whose dying?"

"Reid," he said, "not dying per se but he needs help."

"Tyler its 3 o'clock in the morning and there is a 24 hour infirmary right below your feet."

"I can't take him to the infirmary," he said, "he's ah, he's going through withdrawl."

"Withdrawl? He's a little young to be a drug addict."

"I know but the school's got a zero tolerance policy and if I take him down he's going to get expelled," he said, repeating the lie that he and Sarah had worked out, "please? He needs your help."

"Alright, hold on," she said closing the door and reappearing a few minuets later wearing loose pants and carrying a bag, "but I'm not making any promises."

Even Sonya couldn't have been prepared for what was behind the door. Reid was lying there like Caleb but far worse. His eyes flickered beneath his lids in feverish dreams, his body drenched with sweat as he burned furiously. He had spent the better part of the night vomiting and he was currently white as a sheet.

"I don't care about the rules, he needs to get to a hospital," Sonya said looking from Tyler to Reid and back again, "he's dying."

"Look I know this seems weird but he can't go tot he hospital, I can't tell you why bt he can't."

"So its not the drugs?" she accused.

"In a way it is," he said, "but he just can't go. Please, he needs help and Sarah said you could."

"Alright," she said looking down, "fine."

She walked over to him and bent down, tucking her hair behind her ears. She checked him over, taking his pulse and doing things that Tyler had seen before. She checked his temperature and looked at Tyler who shook his head, unable to answer her. Sonya let out a breath and sat back on her heels, looking up at Tyler accusingly. He walked over to the side of Reid's bed and looked at her.

"Okay, he's dehydrated. I need a glass of water, from anywhere."

"Right," Tyler said jogging over to the bathroom.

"Reid?" she asked touching his face, "Reid can you hear me?" Reid moaned in response, "okay so you can hear me, can you open your eyes?" he moaned again but didn't open his eyes, "fine, be stubborn," she snapped, "well he can hear me, that's a good sign," she said as Tyler came back into the room. Sonya took the glass and cradled Reid's head, lifting it and letting the water slide down his throat, "we have to keep him hydrated and bring his fever down, but pills are out of the question because of the addiction."

"Well my question is who the hell are you?!"

They both turned to see the Envoy standing against the wall looking absolutely furious. Tyler didn't think he had ever seen her use any kind of power--or curse before for that matter. Right now she looked absolutely furious, but her eyes narrowed a little bit as the scrutinized Sonya.

"Get out."

Sonya nodded, absolutely petrified and threw herself out of the room. The Envoy turned to Tyler, grabbed his throat and lifted him a foot off the ground.

"What part of 'do not involve anyone else' was unclear?" she demanded dropping him, "I swear I have never had to deal with such a group of thick headed idiots. This power has gone to your heads and apparently replaced whatever brain cells were left!"

"Look, Sarah said she knew first aide. Reid looked like he was going to die. She was just helping," he said.

"Do you have any idea what Reid is? Withdrawl can't kill him, its impossible."

"Why?" Tyler demanded getting to his feet, feeling his blood start to boil, "you keep ordering us around and you just expect us to follow? I am sick and tired of this game your playing and I want you to tell me the truth about him right now!"

The Envoy raised her eyebrows. That was the single longest sentence she had heard Reid use. She sighed and crossed her arms as if this were a great annoyance.

"Do you know when the elder Garwin passed away?" he gave her a look, "when he was young, at the beginning of his Addiction. He passed on more power to Reid than Caleb or Chase's father combined. Reid's had this power but he hasn't dealt with it at all which means there is going to be a serious problem when he Ascends. You saw what the power did to Chase. Reid has to end this Addiction now before it gets out of hand."

On the other side of the door, Sonya frowned and tried not to feel too guilty for eavesdropping.

...Back at the Danvers...

Sarah was once again tangled in Caleb's arms, his fingers running up and down her arm lazily. They had been asking each other questions for the better part of two hours, trying to fill in the missing pieces.

"Are you scared?" she asked him.

"About what?" he asked.

"Chase, your power, does it ever scare you?"

"All the time," he said, "I've always been scared about turning into my father, about inflicting that kind of pain on everyone else--"

"What about you," she said pushing herself up, "you always care so much about everyone else, what about you?"

"I always had to take care of everyone else," he admitted, "I never had time to worry about myself," he smiled and shook his head, "I don't know how you always make me tell the truth."

"I'm just good at it," she said smiling and laying back down, "but if," she bit her lip, "if your so busy worrying about yourself, I'll just have to worry about you," she looked at him, "I won't let you, Caleb Danvers, turn into your father," she heard him inhale, his eyes locking on hers, "I won't. I promise."

"And I won't let you turn into my mother," he vowed, turning his head and capturing her lips with his own.

...Dorms...

Kate sighed and rolled over, still sound asleep. Pogue knew he couldn't Use but Sarah had kindly lent him her key. In one hand he held a bouquet of lilies, Kate's favorite flower. It was morning but he knew she would be sound asleep. He also knew that Kate had thought he forgot what today was. He smirked and pushed open the door carefully, closing it behind him and tiptoeing over to the bed.

Something was tickling her nose. Something that smelled an awful lot like lilies--lilies and engine oil--and the conditioner she had bought Pogue months ago. She tried to hide her smile and failed miserably, opening her eyes and seeing Pogue dangling a lily over her face.

"You remembered," she accused teasingly.

"I remembered," he said smiling and offering her the flowers. She breathed in deeply.

"Thank you," she said rolling to face him and propping her head on her hand, "I can't believe its been three years."

"Me neither," he said running his hand down her arm.

"I mean--" her voice hitched, "it's been--" she tossed the lillie to the side and pulled Pogue forward, kissing him. He grinned and came onto the bed, wrapping his arms around her. Neither knew that in two days, the world as they knew it would end.

In two days, Pogue would turn 18.

In two days, Pogue would Ascend.

And in two days, they would find out what the Witch Hunters really feared.


	7. The First Attack and Second Ascension

"She knows something," Sarah said.

"What do you mean, she knows something?" Tyler asked.

"Well the Envoy is clearly lying to you all. Sonya's been avoiding any of us for the past two weeks but she hasn't demanded more answers," Sarah rubbed her eyes, frustrated.

"We have to talk to her," Kate spoke up, "before she does something like tell anyone anything and really get the Envoy worked up."

"Right," Tyler said, "okay, I'll see her tomorrow and I'll ask her what's going on. No, you know what? We'll get Reid too, he owes her a thank you for helping him anyway."

And that was how Reid Garwin, no longer an Addict, found himself outside the door. Oh it wasn't his will to be there, but Kate (who had always been able to scare him) threatened him and so there he was, grudgingly, but there none the less. He wore sunglasses but an unfortunate side effect of the Addiction was that currently his eyes were pure white. Everyone just assumed he had a monster hangover. Still he raised his fist and knocked on the door, only to have it open and Sonya push past him.

"Hey!" Reid said catching up with her.

"Stay away from me," Sony said walking faster.

"I was just here to thank you for saving my life," he said.

"Fine, your welcome, now stay away from me," she said.

He shook his head and caught up with her, grabbing her arm. In one fluid motion she shoved him into the wall, grabbed his throat with one hand and ripped off his sunglasses with the other. Her eyes widened, her mouth falling open and she shoved them back at him, all but running down the hall. He rubbed his throat and took off after her, the situation becoming desperate.

"Wait!" he shouted running after her, "listen," he said searching for the words, "you can't tell anyone, if you want an explanation I'll give you one, but you can't say anything to anyone."

"Listen to me," she said, her voice almost breathless, "the last thing I need is to get sucked into your world," she said, "just stay away from me."

"Sorry but I can't do that," he said.

"Why? You've already broken some rule," she said bitterly, "and you're obviously in a lot of trouble. Clean up your own mess."

"No," he said grabbing her arm, "you have to explain yourself, what do you know?"

"I owe you nothing!" she shouted pulling her arm away, "least of all an explanation. Stay the hell away from me."

"No!" Reid bit out, "you have to tell me--"

"I'll tell you to go to hell! Stay away from me, I don't need this right now, I really don't. I have classes, I have a life, I have things to do-- things that do not involve whatever twisted world you belong to. I don't want to be a part of your world, I don't want to be a part of it and I won't," she breathed in, "I won't."

"Okay, wow, now you really owe me a very long explanation," he said.

"Did you not hear a word I just--never mind," she took a deep breath, "look I won't go around telling the world--I don't even know what I'd tell them. The whole thing is just absolutely ridiculous and I have no desire to get caught up in it. So I'll say this one more time. Stay the hell away from me."

With that she walked down the corridor. Reid ran his hands through his hair and wondered what the hell to do. His eye hit the clock and he swore viciously. Pogue's Ascension was going to happen in 20 minuets.

After he raced away, Sonya came back around the corner and ran into her room. She lasted maybe a second before running to the bathroom and heaving into the toilet. She got to her feet, her face burning and stumbled to the sink, washing her mouth out and splashing cold water on her face. She gripped the edges and looked into the mirror, feeling sick again. Closing her eyes, she leaned her forehead against the cold surface before shoving herself back and walking out of the room.

...Somewhere far, far away...

The Envoy could not feel in a strict sense. The ground underneath her was not cold or hard, her limbs were not numb. In front of her, the body spread out like a sacrifice did not evoke feelings of pity or sadness. It was and always would be about business. Sitting cross legged on the ground, the Envoy looked at the body.

If this did work, it was going to be awful for him to wake up. Resurrection in any form was never fun. Memories, feelings, so much could be missing on a mental level that it was always traumatic. Some had never recovered at all, none had ever recovered fully. The physical characteristics were no better, numbness, blindness, deafness were all common.

This one, Chase Collins, had been handsome. If he did remember anything, it was going to be painful for him to wake up and discover just how he had changed. The entire right side of his face was a mass of scarred flesh, the slumber allowing him to heal quickly. The scars wrapped around his neck and sliced down his left arm, twisting his skin. They went down his back too, the entire length of his spine. Fortunately they had missed his eyes, ears, nose and lips by fractions of an inch.

"You are lucky," the Envoy said, "most would be dead."

He moaned.

The Envoy was on her feet in seconds, her eyes wide. Sure enough, he moaned again and his head lolled a bit. She knew what would follow, any sign of him waking up was due to Pogue Parry's Ascension. Any sign of him waking up would trigger attacks by the Witch Hunters who were surely there. As she sat down, she reasoned that it was just business. In a few moments the Covenant would be dead, someone would show up to kill this one and she would go back.

She did not expect the strange sadness that hit her, but she shrugged it aside and looked at the door, waiting. Sure enough a dark blue cloaked figure appeared in the doorway, two curved blades clutched in gloved hands. He stepped into the cave and looked around, his eyes lighting on the Envoy. She bowed her head and he nodded in greeting before walking over to him. Raising an arm, he prepared to end the life and then, for some reason, he stopped, leaving a light scratch on his neck, almost invisible with the scars.

"Why are you stopping?" the Envoy questioned, "the Balance must be restored."

"The Balance has not yet been thrown completely off," he said standing up, "the Covenant of Ipswitch lives on."

"What?" she asked, her jaw dropping.

She heard him chuckle and depart before she turned back to Chase. Shaking herself, she let the world fade away and yanked it back into focus in the living room of the Danvers mansion. Pogue was sitting there, his posture showing he had just Ascended. The rest of the Covenant was nearby and she looked around, frowning and tilted her head before looking out the window.

"What's going on?" she demanded, but no-one could answer, "well?"

"I can't even," Tyler trailed off, "I can't even explain what's going on.

"You're starting to scare me," the Envoy said.

"Okay, the Ascension started and as it did, all these people came out of the woods like it was a cult. Of course one said that he was here to kill us. And then all of a sudden, they just stopped and retreated."

"The one I saw did the same thing," the Envoy said, "what made them do that? They are never supposed to retreat. It goes against their code."

"They have a Code?" Reid demanded, "isn't that a little, I don't know, comic book?"

"Alright something called them off, I don't know what but something did."

And that was how Reid once again found himself outside the same door. This time he was not grudgingly there, no-one knew he was there. This time he was there and he was very very angry. He wasted no time in pounding on the door hard enough to rattle the glass nearby. Inside, Sonya sensed his anger from the pounding and felt her own surge in response. She had said something very specific and if he was going to ignore it then she was going to have to make it clearer.

"What," she demanded wrenching open the door, "part of 'stay the hell away from me' did you not understand?!"

"Why'd you call them off?" he asked crossing his arms.

"Call who off?" she demanded, completely confused.

"Don't lie, I know you called them off. I want to know how and why."

"Look I don't like you. I wouldn't go and save you from any 'bad guys'. Are you always this thick? I do not like you and I did not save your life," she chuckled, "this sounds so stupid. Can you please leave now?"

Reid shook his head, his gut telling him that she was lying. Big mistake. The next minuet he was on the other side of the doorway feeling like someone had slammed a weight into his chest. Sonya kicked the door shut and stepped over him, walking down the hallway. Reid stumbled to his feet and made to follow her but his chest protested vehemently and the phone in his pocket began to ring, probably Caleb demanding where the hell he went too.

He sighed and flipped open the phone, listened to Caleb's hysterics and promised to be back in a few minuets. He ran his hands through his hair and walked down the hallway. Sonya turned around to mouth him off and he brushed past her. She rolled her eyes and walked faster, cutting him off at the doorway and heading down to her car before taking off. Reid got to the house and opened the door.

"We've got a problem," the Envoy said, her voice deadly quiet, "can any of you go more than a day without involving some other chick?" she demanded, "why don't you go and just announce yourselves on the news, there are plenty of female anchors and it would save us all a lot of time."

"Man she is really starting to piss me off," he snapped to Tyler before storming up the stairs.


	8. The Start of Something Not so New

The clearing was completely empty. Only a few dark stains showed anything had happened there. The man who stood there did not belong. Everything from his dark suit to his amber eyes was unwelcome. Behind him were a few other men, all dressed similarly. He didn't spare them a glance as he bent over the stain and brushed his fingertips across it, closing his eyes.

He stood up and nodded to the men. They faded into the shadows and he turned around to face the Envoy. He tilted his head, his lips pulling up slightly. She looked at him, the anger almost palpable that poured from her. She looked down before catching his eyes again.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"For the same reason you are," he said, "the Covenant of Ipswitch has become, shall we say, a problem."

"I highly doubt the Ancient Laws support your plan."

"No more than they support yours," he said stepping so he was almost on top of her, "I know you've given them more chances than they deserve, that when you though they were dead, you were sad. I know you're falling from grace, a little more each day."

"I am not," the Envoy gasped out.

"Oh yes you are," he said, his voice smooth. He narrowed his eyes, "and for these five Witches no less. How terribly pathetic. Well, let me tell you that when you fail, I'll be there to absorb their powers, just like I always am."

With that, Parker Donovan smiled and walked away, leaving the Envoy badly shaken. She shook herself and turned away, fading before pulling the world back into focus at the Danvers mansion. She closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose before dropping her hands and looking out the window, the words echoing in her ears.

...At the Dorms...

The man stepped into the dorms, buttoning his blazer and walking down the halls. There was a lot of power in the building, he could feel it calling to him. He closed his eyes, feeling the power burn. He wanted it, he wanted it very badly. To anyone else, it would seem like he as addicted to the power, like a common warlock. No, oh no, he was so much more than that. He wanted the power not to slow the aging process but because he knew how to wield it.

He sighed and looked around the hallway, turning in a circle and trying to pinpoint the location of the power. Behind him, Sonya stepped into the hallway and frowned. No student would be caught dead wearing a suit, much less on a saturday. The man kept turning, bringing one amber eye into her view. She dove, literally, to the other side of the hallway and grabbed the edge of the wall, bracing herself.

She heard his shoes click against the floor and saw him come around the corner. He didn't go farther than that, loosing the power and turning around to go back to where it was more potent. Sonya eased herself down and pulled off her shoes, softly sliding down the floor with her socks. She still had her wallet and her keys in her pocket. She made it to the stairs, threw on her shoes and raced down them as fast as she could, barely hearing a voice ordering something after her. She was on the road immediately and sped off.

The two black cars that pulled along side of her were not totally unexpected. But she swerved off the road, thankful she decided on something a little rougher than the sports coupe she had wanted. Barreling down the uneven turf, she got far enough ahead to park the car and raced through the trees on foot, as fast as she could. She burst through the clearing a the back of a mansion and looked around. In the window was the same woman who had thrown her out of Reid's room. Her eyes hit Sonya and widened.

"What are you--" she trailed off looking at the woods, "never mind, come on."

She dragged Sonya into the house and shut the door. Sonya stumbled, the Envoy was a lot stronger than she thought. All six of them were in the living room, looking at the Envoy and her. She shifted under their glares, the words she had snapped echoing in her ears.

"What's going on?" Caleb asked standing up, "who are you?"

"Oh shit," Sonya said looking at Reid and Tyler.

"Sit down, we have a much bigger problem than I thought," the Envoy said with a sigh, "there's someone else involved, someone much worse. Does the name Parker Donovan mean anything to any of you?"

"Wait, Parker Donovan?" Sonya asked, "the businessman?"

"Businessman?" the Envoy questioned.

"Yeah, Parker Donovan is, well businessman might be too nice a term. He works for his father's charity, its a day job. He's going to inherit a lot of money in a few years if his dad ever decides to die. The man is close to a hundred years old and still going strong," she shook her head, "Parker Donovan wouldn't come to the backwaters of Massachusetts."

"Why not?" the Envoy asked.

"He hates small towns, always has," she caught the Envoy's eyes, "yes I know Parker, our families grew up together. What's this about?"

"Parker Donovan is the single most dangerous man in the world," she said tightly, "he has been breaking rules left and right, he's got an alliance with people even the Witch Hunters won't touch, which is how he gets away with everything. He's been murdering Warlocks and Witches, forcing them to will him their power."

Sonya burst out laughing.

"So let me get this strait. Your their guide, they're Warlocks and a world famous businessman whose actually a warlock going around stealing other Warlock's powers," she cracked up, "you know, I don't think Reid was the only one on drugs, you're all on some pretty heavy shit if you think that you have powers," she looked at them, "alrighty then, I'm going to go back to, uh, normal and I'll uh, see you around."

"Wait, you can't leave!" the Envoy cried jumping in front of the door, "you know too much."

"Ooo," she said waving her hands, "you're starting to sound like a serial killer now."

"You have to believe us," she said, "if you know Parker, you may be the key to saving us all."

"Oh ha, ha. Look, I'm leaving," she said, "unless you want to, I don't know, do something to prove to me that you're, uh, Witches or Warlocks?"

"We can't do that," Tyler said, "and we can't let you leave."

"Oh fuck that," Sonya said, "look, would you please move?" the Envoy shook her head, "alright, we'll do this the hard way."

Her foot came around and actually went through the Envoy. She frowned and stepped back, trying again. Her foot once again sailed through. The Envoy crossed her arms and buffed her nails against her chest. Sonya huffed and turned around before spinning around a final time and lashing out her foot. This time her foot connected and knocked the Envoy out of the way. She squared her shoulders and pulled open the door, walking out.

"That's impossible," the Envoy gasped sitting up, "I'm not--go after her. I don't care how you do it but bring her back!"

...In a Field...

Sonya stepped out of her car, retrieved from the woods and onto the grass of the field. In the center of the field was a man with his back to her. When her feet touched, her muddy jeans and t-shirt faded away and were replaced with a long dress of soft gold fabric that hung off her shoulders and brushed the floor. She walked forward, the slit up one side allowing her a measure of free movement. She hated how innocent the dress probably made her look.

"You look beautiful," he said turning around.

"Parker," she gasped, one hand flying to her throat, "what happened to you?"

"Nothing bad," he said moving forward until they were close, "and you have only grown more attractive in my absence."

"Your eyes," she frowned, "your eyes--they're amber--" she stepped back, "how are they--Parker what's going on?"

"So you've been told those rumors," he said, "hateful rumors. I am going to save the world from these Warlocks, I am going to make everything right," he closed his eyes, "but I need your help. If you help me I can save the world. Don't you want to help me do that?"

"Have you been killing people?"

"No," he said, "I've been becoming more and more powerful. But I can't get that power unless i have you by my side."

"What--" she stepped back, "Parker thats insane, what's wrong with you? This isn't you!"

"Yes, yes it is. And it's you too. It's everything we should be."

"No," she said shaking her head, "no."

"Come," he said stepping forward, "together we will rule the world."

She drew back her hand and punched him in the eye. He stumbled back and she kicked him in the groin and slammed his other eye into her kneecap before running down the field. She almost missed the knife that whistled through the air and forced him to vanish. Not looking back, she got into her car, slamming her foot on the gas and taking off. She skidded down the road as fast as she could. She skidded to a stop in front of the mansion and shut off the car, running flat out inside and pounding on the door hard.

"Sonya?" the Envoy demanded, "what the--"

"Its Parker, he's different, he's crazy. He wants to take over the world, he wants to absorb powers--his eyes are amber--what's going on here?!"

"Now do you believe us?" the Envoy demanded.

"No, I don't believe you!" Sonya screamed.

"Then you're going to kill us all!" she shot back.

"So I'm just supposed to believe that everything I've ever been told was a lie? I'm supposed to believe you're Warlocks? You can't ask me to do that--you can't!" The Envoy threw out power and knocked her unconscious instantly. She fell to the ground her hair falling across her face like a stain. The Envoy went upstairs and wrangled Tyler into carrying her to the last of the spare bedrooms.

...Later...

Sonya woke up with a groan, pressing her hand to her forehead which throbbed viciously. She looked around with her skull pounding, trying to make sense of the high wood ceiling and windows that echoed softly with the sound of rain. She sat up carefully and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She was still in the stupid dress and sitting up didn't help matters.

The events, Parker needing her to take over the world, being told the star students of her school were actually Warlocks, and the real reason she was in Ipswitch all hit her like a ton of bricks. She fell back on the bed with a sigh, remembering the bender she had gone on and feeling quite guilty, especially because it appeared that her entire dorm room had been moved in. She pulled on clean cloths and kicked the dress under the bed with her toes. She tiptoed down the stairs, unsure of the time.

"Well look whose up."

Sonya turned around to see a woman sitting in front of the fire, a glass of some amber liquor in her hand. She was wearing something silky and Sonya could just see the top of her hair. She realized it was very late, the house was completely dead and there were four teenage boys living under the roof. She stepped closer to the fire.

"You know, I had no idea that there were still such things as Witch Hunters. Or that they would stoop so low as to send someone as young as you."

"I am not a Witch Hunter," she said.

"Really?" came the voice, skeptical at best.

"I was a thief," she said, "nothing more."

"Lets not sugar coat things now," came the voice, "I'd like the truth."

"I was a thief, nothing more. I stole things from people, sometimes for others and sometimes for myself. I was a stupid teenager, thats it. I just happened to steal the wrong thing from the wrong person."

"Oh really?" the person in the chair set down the glass, "thats not how I remember you being," she stood up, "I believe the term is total bitch."

The first time she went unconscious it wasn't her fault. The second time she hit the ground that night it was completely her fault. the figure laughed and picked her up, putting her on the couch. She smirked and headed back to the chair, looking at the fire and taking a long drink

Tomorrow as going to be very fun.


	9. The Fallen Envoy and The Locket

Claire Alderic had never been one for patience, never. Patience being her weakness was what had her probing around the house while everyone else was completely passed out. Sonya was passed out, the other six were out, hell even the Envoy was gone. Running her hands through her short hair, she walked down the hallway and looked at the musty paintings.

"I haven't seen you before."

Claire turned around to see a woman standing there wearing a fluid silk dressing robe. Everything about her was perfect, from her dark brown curls to her red lips. A quick glance down confirmed perfectly manicured fingernails. Claire felt her eyebrows raise, it was 3 in the morning and except for the dressing gown the woman looked like she was ready to go out.

"No, I'm new," she said, thankful to talk to someone, "Claire Aledric."

"Evelyn Danvers," she said extending a hand, "and how do you fit into this? I already have an Envoy and a normal girl, who are you?"

"You have an Envoy here?" she asked tilting her head to the side, "and I know that the normal girl is not Sonya," she frowned at Evelyn's expression, "oh no, no she's not here to kill anyone but she's not exactly what you'd call normal."

"And what about you?" Evelyn asked, "it seems that since this started no-one has done anything but lie to us. I would like the truth."

"Of course, why not? I'm bored enough. Well, like I said, I'm Claire Aledric and I used to be an Envoy."

...Morning...

Sonya put a hand to her throbbing forehead and realized that she had hit herself pretty hard when she fainted. And suddenly she remembered that person in the chair she thought was Evelyn and actually was not. She jumped to her feet, adrenaline pumping through her and ran around looking frantically for anyone alive. She stopped and backed up to see the Envoy staring. She stepped into the room and froze as well.

Claire's words to Evelyn had been the tip of the iceberg. Out of all the things that Sonya had expected to happen, the return of both Claire and Parker was too much for her to take. Clasping a hand over her mouth, she ran up the stairs like a scared teenager and into her room. The Envoy looked after her desperately but turned back to Claire who was standing by the fireplace, her back to them.

"Why are you here?" the Envoy asked coming into the room, "why is she so upset?"

Claire chucked and turned around, bracing her arms against the fireplace. The Envoy studied her, head tilted to the side.

"You look different," the Envoy commented.

"I'm human now," Claire said dropping her arms, "they couldn't have me running around looking like an Envoy now could they?" she looked at the clock on the fireplace, "and when that Witch Hunter business didn't work out, well I had to change my appearance then too," she stretched out a hand, "you know, I think this is my favorite."

"I see you haven't changed one bit," the Envoy sniffed, "now why are you here? And don't tell me the Laws sent you because I know thats bullshit. Where have you been?"

"Hey that only worked once," she said defensively, "and no, someone else sent me. And I've been in Egypt, raiding tombs for my boss."

"Who?"

"Aren't you supposed to be patient?" Claire demanded, "doesn't that go along with your whole la-la-earth-real-crap?" she glanced at the stairs, "why is she flipping out? Is she crying? Sonya Kendrick is in her room sobbing? Did I come at the wrong time of the month or something?"

"She cries," the Envoy said defensively.

"Okay I know Sonya and Sonya does not 'cry'," she said looking up at the stairs, "unless--unless Parker's here," she put her hands on her hips, "is Parker here?" she looked at the Envoy's face, "oh I am going to enjoy killing that son of a bitch," she looked up, "unless of course she's grown the guts to do it herself."

"Don't bet on it," the Envoy said softly, "she saw him, came back here and lets just say it did not go well."

"Okay who is she? What's going on?" Tyler asked coming downstairs, "hey guys! There's another one here!"

"Why don't they seem surprised to find a stranger standing in the living room? How many of you are involved in this?" she demanded looking up, "I'm way later than i thought apparently. So, who is everyone?"

"Hold that thought," she said running up the stairs, "I'll be right back."

The Envoy threw up her hands as the rest of the Covenant filed in. Claire dashed up the stairs as fast as she could, looking around to find Sonya. She ran over to the room and knocked on the door as hard as she could. Nothing happened. She frowned and knocked harder. Now for anyone else, the logical thing to do would be to go and get help from one of the men or to find a key to the door. But, of course, Claire was not normal or regular or anything like that so she stepped back a few feet, drew her foot up and slammed her foot into the door. Three times and the door splintered in. Claire stepped into the room and looked around. On the bed was a note. She picked it up and red it before looking at the open window.

"Shit."

She pounded down the stairs. and into the living room where a group of four very hot guys stood with the Envoy. She barely spared them a glance and looked at the Envoy, holding up the note with two fingers.

"She's gone," she said.

"Alright someone better start talking or i swear to God this isn't going to end well," Reid snarled.

"Join the club," the Envoy said looking at Claire.

"Alright fine! But this is not my story to tell," she said, "I'm going to give you the quick and nasty version, all those details need to be filled in by her," she crossed her arms, "and before you demand all those answers you think you deserve, just remember one thing, I've got more firepower than you do."

"Alright give us the details," the Envoy said.

"Fine! Sonya Kendrick was a thief and not a good one. But you know, with a little practice she got good enough to get some jobs. Not that many but enough so that someone wanted to partner her and thats where she got famous. You see Sonya may have been a crap thief but she was a fucking good organizer. She's very good at taking people's strengths and making them useful," she sighed, "you see Sonya comes from a good family, rich enough to rival every one of yours. And it is not unusual for people like her to turn to drugs or drinking or something to rebel. I don't expect you to know but stealing is a serious rush, planning a heist is no different." she smiled, "and then Parker Donovan entered the picture. He was a member of a Covenant and all that but she didn't know back then. Back then he was just an old family friend who had lost a locket in a game of poker and needed to get it back. Bluffing has never been Parker's strongest suit. And so Parker needed to get the locket back."

"And how do you fit into this picture?" Reid asked.

"Sonya called me in to help. I had just ended my 'career' with the Envoys and I needed a job."

"So you were a thief?"

"No, I was actually a Witch Hunter," she said crossing her arms, "you see most of the Witch Hunters are in some way related to the Envoys, but they're not to them--anyway thats not the point. The point is that I was working as a Witch Hunter and a sort of bodyguard at the time. Weird shit kept happening around Parer and his five lackeys but hey, there's a long jump from weird to Warlock. But Sonya wasn't evil or anything, she was actually quite normal, really actually boring."

"And what about you?"

"Oh I'm a completely different story," she said, "but back to Sonya. So she arranges the job, gets the locket and brings it back to him," she shrugged, "end of story, right? Wrong. People started dying, the thieves--anyone who would have known that Parker had the locket. And not just normal deaths, freaky deaths that left them like husks. It was scary. He couldn't touch me of course--"

"Why not?" Reid demanded, "Why couldn't he touch you? And am I the only one who thinks this is starting to sound like a freaky combination of Lord of the Rings and the Mummy?"

"Shut up Reid," Caleb said looking at Claire.

"Again, not about me," she said, "but Sonya confronted him. We don't know what happened that night but Sonya watched as Parker took the lives of his three closest friends. We found them husked like the others. But the other two," she closed her eyes, "the other two ran. I was waiting outside and I heard the screams of the first three. When those two came out, he was already draining them. I killed them before he could get their power. When I got to the room, Parker and Sonya were both gone. We found Parker locked in a closet and a note pinned to the bodies," she shook her head, "This note," she said turning it over, "we know the locket's with Sonya."

"Okay wait a fucking second," Pogue said standing up, "we accidentally semi-kill one psychotic Covenant member and have the entire magical world up our asses but this bastard goes around wasting Covenants and Humans and gets nothing?!"

"We can't touch Parker," the Envoy said.

"They won't touch Parker," Claire snapped, "no-one will. The great Parker Donovan is untouchable," she rolled her eyes, "you know why? Because in a technical sense, Parker hasn't broken any rules."

"Technically no. He's powerful, but out of all the power he and his lackey's--who we do go after, successfully, all the time---have taken, it's not there's technically."

"No, Parker's far too smart to just take the power into himself and risk Addiction or retribution. So he came up with another way."

"The power's in the locket," Sarah said.

"The power's in the locket," Claire said, "and until Parker gets your power, he won't open the locket and risk an all out war," she said, "I'm going to keep the four of you alive. I suggest you," she looked at the Envoy, "go and get the body."

"What about Sonya? We can't just leave her there," Caleb said.

"Sonya's far from helpless," she said, "the kind of guy who stores his power in a family heirloom loves ceremony. He'll be at the sight of the Ascension. All we need to do is make sure he knows where that will be."

"Okay this is just ridiculous! I mean the first new guy we meet turns out to be the long lost member of our Covenant," Reid yelled holding up a finger, "the girl turns out to be your soul mate," he said to Caleb holding up another finger, "the next woman turns out to be some embodiment of the Ancient Laws," he held up two fingers, "the next one happens to be a thief and the keeper of some ancient key of power. The one after that is--" he looked at Claire, "what the hell are you?!" he looked over, "oh and lets not forget the elusive Parker Donovan who wants to kill us and do what Chase--who we have to bring back--wanted too," he dropped his hands, "does anyone see a pattern here?!"

"No," Claire said crossing her arms.

"Women are trying to kill us!" he cried, "don't you see, its all connected to women trying to kill us! Only a chick would think of the Ancient Laws, Ancient Locket thing! Only a chick would manipulate everyone into either stealing our powers or trying to murder us."

"You are such a chauvinistic pig!" Claire shrieked, "if killing you wouldn't prolong my stay here I would so do it!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Reid shot back, the stress getting to him.

"You wanna go Eunuch? Lets go," she said, "hopefully you'll Use and I can kill you myself instead of letting the Witch Hunters have all the fun!"

"Save it," the Envoy said, "the Witch Hunter's won't come near them as long as your here," she continued, "help them come up with the resurrection spell. Keep them alive, I'll be back soon."

"Great," Claire said dropping to the ground, "only I could go from being the Lara Croft to Splinter with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Crack."


	10. One Too Many Lies Lead to the Truth

Claire had never, actually, wanted to be a hero. In fact, one could go as far as to say she had strived not to be a hero. Well, if one was to take it farther they could say she was successful and not a hero at all. Currently she had taken another bedroom, near to Sonya's. There were serious advantages to having the kind of money that the Danvers had. She had her stuff in the car and had moved in rather easily.

"Where are you going?"

Claire turned around to see Tyler with his eyebrows raised looking at her. She realized just how it must look to him. She was wearing a black dress layered so the slip hit her mid thigh and the sheer part fell down to her ankle. She was painting her lips a bright red to match the high shoes she wore. She had her hair falling over her eyes, not quite long enough to touch her shoulders. She glared at him and finished, painting her lips before capping the stick and glaring at him.

"It's been two days," she said standing up and picking up her clutch, "I'm going to see how Sonya's doing."

"You know where Parker is?"

"No," she said fixing her heel, "but I know he will be at your little social event," he gave her a blank look, "the Charity dinner, most of your mothers are going to be there."

"I hate to tell you this but someone trying to take over the world is not going to go to a Charity dinner."

"Of course he is," she said brushing past him, "you see to the rest of the world Parker Donovan is a highly successful businessman. And like all of them he cares very much about appearance. He's not going to pass up this opportunity to show off Sonya. Remember, she comes from wealth so she's got some serious manners," she continued walking down the stairs, "wanna come and play house?"

"No," Tyler said.

"Suit yourself," she said walking out to where a black car was humming and sliding into the back seat seamlessly.

They arrived at the charity ball and she stepped out of the car, walking into the room with the well faked confidence of someone who had done it before. She felt someone come next to her and turned to see a handsome man with skin that spoke of an oasis. He was wearing a black suit with a pink shirt that on anyone else would look feminine.

"Merrick," she said kissing him on the cheek, "how are you?"

"You look lovely," he said, his voice accented, "shall we?" he asked pulling the invitation out of his pocket and offering his arm to her. She slid her arm in his and they walked through security, "Parker's been here for twenty minuets. He's got the girl with him."

"She's a little old to be called 'girl'," Claire said smiling at a few people, "where are they?"

"My two o'clock," he said, "I'll get us drinks. Don't do anything stupid."

She nodded, regretting handing her clutch to the man at the door when a smooth had ran the length of her arm. She turned around to see Parker who smiled wickedly and took her hand pulling her to the floor with predictable ease before placing a hand on her waist and taking her other with his.

"So," he said, "why are you here?"

"For the same reason you are," she said dipping backwards.

"You think that this is going to end well? We all get to go home, happily ever after?"

"Happy endings are just stories that aren't done," she said stepping around him.

"You know, sweetheart, your a lot more cynical then I remember," he said pulling her closer.

"Don't sweetheart me," she said spinning away as his hand went lower than the small of her back, "we haven't been together for a long time, remember? What were the last words you said to me again? I believe they involved the word cynical, cold hearted, bitch and betrayer."

"And you tried to blow me up," he shot back.

"Well you did deserve it," she said, "and the blowing up wasn't half as creative as what I was did with the knives," she shook her head, "our entire relationship was a lie. You wanted me, I needed you," she winked, "end of story."

"Not happy," he said with a smirk.

"Not happy," she confirmed.

"So the last time I saw you after our unfortunate parting of ways, you tried to kill me and then you stopped," he paused, "why?"

"I had a side back then," she said pulling away before coming back, "now the only thing keeping me from killing you is respect for Sonya."

"You haven't respected anyone but the person in the mirror ever," he said pushing her away, "people like you and me, we don't respect anyone else. Its part of our charm."

"I'm not like you anymore," she said, "because you see I don't have two separate organizations, three if you count the Covenants, who want me dead," she smiled brilliantly, "and yes, they know the truth. So don't think its because I was lying."

"You always lie," he accused softly.

"Oh don't go all chick flick on me," she said, "I'll still kill you if she doesn't," she said turning away from him and into Merrick's arms, "oh don't give me that look."

"I said don't do anything stupid," he said, "do you want the whole world to know that you did something with Parker Donovan?"

"The whole world already knows that," she said turning them around so Parker could take Sonya into his arms, her soft organza dress swirling around her form, "oh don't be stupid, I'm not going to go and kill him."

"Thats not the only thing I'm concerned about," Merrick said.

"For Gods sake," she said, "I'm not going to go and undress him either," she snapped, "you know, you really are a pleasure killer. No sex, no killing, what do you want me to do? Sit home a knit?"

"Just no killing or sex where Parker's concerned," he said and then did a double take, "you know how to knit?"

"You'd be shocked at what I know how to do," she said, "I'm good with my hands."

"Oh Christ," he said closing his eyes.

"Well at least Sonya seems to be doing okay," she said looking over at Sonya who laughed at something Parker said, "I have to say, she's very good at what she does."

"What, lie?" Merrick asked looking at Sonya.

"Hey, she's a lot more innocent than any of us," Claire defended.

Parker looked over and whispered something in Sonya's ear before stepping back. She nodded and walked off, two men heading with her. She turned back around to Claire and looked at her desperately. The despair wasn't the only thing that caught Claire off guard. Spreading across Sonya's right eye, hidden by some illusion that the light stripped away fractionally, was a massive bruise.

"Claire," Merrick hissed grabbing her arm, "don't."

"Don't what?" she demanded spinning around, "don't rip him apart like he deserves? Don't make him feel the pain he's caused everyone around him? I was already blamed for his murder once, this time at least I'll be guilty," she snapped starting forward.

"No," Merrick said, "Claire, listen to me. Not like this. Sonya needs to do this. Gabriel only let you come here because you swore your history wouldn't get in the way. Don't prove him right."

"Fine!" she said after a heartbeat, "but for the record, I'm also supposed to keep everyone alive and that's just getting harder and harder!" she stormed off, "and you are not making it any easier!"

"Claire!" Merrick raced after her.

By the time he got outside she was gone. He threw up his hands and turned around, looking for any sign of where she had gone. It slowly began to rain. Shaking his head, he went inside to try and complete what they were supposed to be doing. On the other side of the building Claire ducked her head and told herself that this was better than Plan A which was going in and making Parker Donovan a woman.

Parker had always, always loved excess. She kept that in mind as she walked into the parking lot. Even in the midst of all the expensive cars, she found his flame red Lamborghini Murcielago was easy to find. She reached into her purse and picked out the note Sonya had left--or rather, Parker had left. Turning it over, she scribbled something on it and pressed her red lips to the clean side. She dropped it onto the ground and stole his car.

"I'm going to kill her," Merrick said coming outside again, "I am going to kill her and really enjoy it."

"You wouldn't," she said stopping the car and looking over at him, "you spy on Parker, I've got two very big liabilities to take care of."

"You are such a pain in my ass!" he burst out, "I should let you just kill him so I can go home--whose care is that?"

"You don't want to know," she said, "what do you mean go home?"

"Gabriel's making me babysit you," he said crossing his arms defensively, "I was going to tell you later," he looked at her, "you thought after the last bodycount that he'd let you go alone?"

"Yes, maybe, okay no," she sighed, "get in the car."

For a moment they drove in silence.

"So Parker and you--"

"I don't want to talk about it," she said driving along, "okay what is he doing here? He's not supposed to be here! I can't have him here, I can't deal with him. I thought I could, seriously I did, but oh my God what am I going to do. People may not like me but they can't argue with the fact that I do my job very very well, that's why people keep hiring me. But when he's around I just--I can't function with him here."

"You know Parker and you, I wouldn't have thought that the two of you would have--" he paused and cocked his head to the side, "alright maybe a little bit. But still, Parker?"

"Okay we're not talking about this," she said turning the car onto the street, "and if you tell anyone that when Parker's around I turn--"

"Into a total whore?"

"I resent that. It rude and mean and completely true, oh my God what am I going to do?"

"As you would say, keep it in your pants and get the job done," he said to her.

"Right, okay, right," she said parking the car, "now, if you tell anyone--"

"You'll gut me in my sleep," Merrick said turning and grinning, "don't worry, I won't tell anyone you get the hots for bad boys."

"Shut up!" she said opening the door.

"Holy shit, there's another one," Reid said, "and this time it's a dude."

A few hours later, Claire wrapped her arms around her frame and looked out the window, her head against the cool glass as the rain tapped against it. The house was quiet and completely dead, filled with people she was sworn to protect. Even if she was loath to include Merrick in it. She sighed and brushed back her hair, looking around the room.

She ran her fingertips along the mantle and frowned, reaching under for the envelope taped there. She grabbed it and ripped it open, not even checking that it was for her. A note fell out along with something shiny and gold. She fell to her knees and opened the note with one hand, not daring to look at the shiny thing yet.

"Dear Claire, if your reading this then I'm gone, probably a prisoner to everyone's favorite asshole. I can't write much, I can only hope that your reading it. Here's a present. Get me out of there, I know you can. Xo, Sonya," she red aloud and picked up the locket, turning it over in her fingers.

"You bitch," she growled as she recognized the locket, "Everyone wake the fuck up! Now!"

"What?" Reid demanded coming down first.

"We have a big problem. You remember the locket I told you about?"

"The creepy-lord-of-the-rings one? Yeah--" he looked at the locket in her hands, "you're kidding me, right?"

"I wish," she glared at the locket, "so, do you want to be Legolas? Because if it's okay with you I'd like to be Aragon, I've got a thing for swords."

"You know how lame that sounds?" he asked.

"Hey buddy, we just became a fellowship out to destroy a magical artifact," she crossed her arms, "prepare for way more lameness."

"Where did you get that?" Merrick demanded, "Jesus, did you sleep with him?! it's been four hours!"

"Sleep with who? Parker?" Tyler asked coming down and stopping dead, "you slept with the guy trying to kill us?"

"I didn't sleep with him!" she cried.

"Then how'd you get the locket?" Merrick asked crossing his arms.

"Sonya left it for me you idiot," Claire growled, "do you remember what we talked about?"

"The gutting-me-if-I-revealed-your-wicked-red-hot-semi-relationship-with-a-phsycho-Warlock-talk?" he asked raising a finger, "oh God, don't kill me."

"Your what?!" Reid cried, "you did what?!"

"I'm going to kill you," Claire hissed before turning to the guys, "so Parker and I had a purely physical relationship, it was a long time ago, months ago."

"Oh my God, we're being protected by a psychotic whore," Tyler said, "we're so screwed."

"Hey! I want Parker dead a hell of a lot more than the rest of you," Claire snapped, "and I am not some psychotic whore! Just because your the wise-one doesn't mean you get to assume anything so keep your mouth shut so when I feel the need to take my anger out my mind lands on my babysitter here instead of your sorry ass."

"Your babysitter?" Caleb demanded, "okay obviously your going to have to give us your backstory, now."

"Alright fine!" she said throwing up her hands, "sit down and shut up," she looked at Merrick, "you're staying for storytime too?"

"They're going to want my story too," he said shrugging and sitting down, "and besides, knowing you the rumor mill is going to be a sleeper compared to the truth."

"Prepare to be disappointed," she said, "it's quite boring, really. Nothing worth telling at all."

"Talk," Caleb said.


	11. The Truth and The Third Ascension

"I'd like to start this little story off by saying that I am not the person I was at the beginning of it. The truth is ugly and you need to understand that I am doing this as a sign of faith," she looked at them in turn, "so if you want to freak out when I'm done, don't because I swear that I am not here to hurt you in any way."

"It's kind of silly really. I grew up in relative wealth, nothing as opulent as this but not poor. When I was little I loved stories and such, you know fairytales. And well, one day, the fairytale became real. I started blacking out for periods of time, or so I thought. In actuality I was connecting with the Ancient Laws. You see, all Envoys start out as something else. I was taken to an Envoy training house at thirteen and by fifteen I was a full fledged Envoy. Work for the Envoys is very sparse because no-one breaks the rules that badly. Normally full Envoys spend most of their times in normal lives, their Envoy side sleeping. Well I got some work because the Covenant of Salem--Parker's Covenant--broke the rules by moving to a new location."

She shook her head.

"You can guess where this is going, can't you? Parker was, well, he was amazing and we fell in love. I don't expect a room full of strait men to understand but he was, just wow covers it. That L-word's a big, huge, never ever do for the Envoys. Of course back then I thought Parker and I would last forever. I was nineteen and I chose a two month relationship over what I thought I'd do for the rest of my life. I was cursed by the Envoys, cast out like some piece of trash. And Parker, well, Parker was really no better. I believe his exact words were, 'no more use'. So in a swoop I had lost pretty much everything."

"Well my family it turns out were actually associated with the Witch Hunters--okay they were Witch Hunters, one of the older families. My expulsion from the Envoys made me a prime target for them."

"To do what?" Kate asked.

"To groom me to be the heir," Claire said, "the heir to a large alliance of Witch Hunters. When you're dealing with that much Supernatural you know, its easier to be together than apart. Well, so, I was being groomed and then the whole Parker debacle happened. I wish I could've killed him, really I do, but I couldn't. Not because of some stupid chick-flick moment," she scratched the back of her neck, "We weren't seeing each other, it was more, uh--"

"Booty Call," Merrick said crossing his arms.

"Fine, 'booty call'," Claire snapped, "so I couldn't kill him because he had seriously screwed Sonya over. My mistakes got me where I was but he, well, she deserved to kill him in the most gruesome way possible. I did what I could I managed to get people out and to save lives instead of taking them. And then I met my future boss."

"Our future boss," Merrick corrected, "and before you ask, he's the same one who sent me to make sure that she would be an asset and not a liability."

Claire crossed her arms defensively. Merrick winked.

"Who the hell is this Parker Donovan and why does he get all the ass?" Reid demanded, "I mean the guy seems like a serious asshole and not someone you know, to have rampant sex with."

"Well we know that now," she said putting her hands on her hips, "but didn't you think Chase was all good until you found out he wasn't? We all make some mistakes and then we have to fix them."

"Not quite as eloquent as the Envoy but hey,it works," Merrick said.

"And what are you?" Tyler asked looking at Merrick.

"I'm Merrick Khan," he said, "I was hired to babysit, partner up with and make sure this one doesn't cause anymore damage. While we can't tell you who we work for, we can tell you this. We are Guardians. We're not Witch Hunters and not Envoys, we're something in between. We make sure there's a Balance to be kept. We also make sure that the Covenants don't get out of hand concerning the humans. We don't know enough about the power to allow it to run free we make sure its contained and we make sure that those who wield it do not get out of hand or abuse it too much."

"Do they make you memorize that?" Reid snapped.

"It's got a few bigger words," she said, "and we recite it so often that it kind of gets stuck in your head."

"So the two of you--"

"Well me technically."

"Are here to be our Guardians?"

"Well that all depends on whether or not you can pull this off," she said, "if you can't Resurrect him then we have to let the Witch Hunter's kill you before Parker gets your powers."

"Shit," Caleb said running his hands over his face.

...Later...

The house was always so quiet it drove Claire stark raving mad. It wasn't as if she didn't sleep, she slept when the boys were in school like some alcoholic mother. But at night, she still had enough, whatever, in her to have trouble sleeping. So it was close to midnight and she was sitting on the edge of the window, looking out at the grass.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Tyler asked coming downstairs.

"No," she said turning to him, "you?"

"Not now," he said, "i was wondering if you could, look at this," he said holding up a notepad, "I don't know how to write a spell but--I thought--"

"Sure," she said getting to her feet and coming over, "I'd be happy too," she picked it up, "this isn't bad," she said turning over, "it's good actually, very good," she lowered the paper, "are you sure you never wrote a spell before?"

"Positive," he said.

"Then you're a natural talent at this," she said, "you have a real gift."

"Thanks," he said lowering his head, "this is all, just, so odd."

"Your handling it very well," she said resting her chin on her hands, "can I ask you something? Are you worried about bringing Chase back?"

"I can't stop thinking about it," Tyler said, "and I know the others are scared, especially Pogue and Caleb because Chase used Sarah and Kate against them. Reid, I think Reid's just terrified about his Ascension. And I am completely lost as to what to do about Chase. We don't have an option, not really. If we bring him back we have to deal with him, and if we don't we're dead."

"Well he probably won't be the same you remember," she said, "No matter how good they are, Resurrections are never easy and the Focus--the one being resurrected--is never the same," she said, "they have memory loss, he's probably got some serious injuries too. He may be a completely different person than the one you knew, there's really no way to tell."

"This isn't fair," he said, "we're just teenagers. We were just supposed to be teenagers with this insane power and not up to our necks in people who want to kill us," he closed his eyes, "I really just, I never thought it could end like this."

"Its not going to end like this," she said firmly, "it won't. Look at me, it'll change but it won't be the end," she bit her lip, "do you know what your artifacts are?" he looked at her blankly, "most Covenant families, they have some kind of artifact that has protection in it, for the one you love," he shook his head, "alright, well we'll try to find those. I know a few protection tricks."

"What about Sonya?" he asked, "what is Parker going to do with her?"

"Nothing," she said, "you see Parker's a big fan of ritual, don't ask me why but he is. He's not going to do anything until you Ascend, even if he finds out Sonya's not the key to his power," she shook her head, "although on some level I think she is," she sighed, "on some level, he loves her. I think more in the way that you love a fairytale but he loves her none the less. He won't hurt her if he can avoid it, even if she's left us with the stupid locket."

"She saved Reid's life," he said.

"Oh you can't be serious," she said, "Sonya and Reid? I hate to tell you this but since Parker ripped her entire life from her, she's got a strict 'no Warlock rule'. I bet she's been nothing but a total bitch to you guys, even when she didn't know."

"Well not a total bitch," he said.

"Right," she said, "Sonya came here to run away. She was scared. I may have done the same thing if it hadn't happened to me before. I feel bad for her though, she had no idea what she was getting into when she got here and now everything she hates is hitting her over the head."

"What's going to happen when Reid Ascends? He's got all that power, what happens to him? To us?"

"It's going to suck, there'll probably be a lot of screaming and Parker, the Witch Hunters and all those who want you dead will probably show up but we'll make sure nothing happens."

"Two against all of them?" he asked raising his eyebrows, "you're not that good."

"No," she said, "but I'm good enough to make sure the six of you still have a pulse at the end of the day. And Merrick also happens to have a few tricks up his sleeve," Tyler gave her a look, "he's got some Element control abilities. He can make plants grow and stuff. It's not that cool to watch but he can get creative with it."

"I want to go back to the time where getting into college was my main fear," he said.

"I don't blame you," she said, "and I'm really sorry to tell you this, but I don't think you can go back to that time," he started, "I'm sorry. I really wish you could but the way things look, you may just be too powerful."

"No," he said getting up, "you mean you want us to give up everything for this Power? We never asked for this!"

"No one asks for this," she said getting to her feet, "but you can't just sit back and pretend to be normal."

"Why not? It's worked so far," he said hotly, "we've always been normal to the rest of the world. Always."

"You are the most powerful Covenant," she said, "you're too powerful to just sit back and let people like Parker take over the world. You have to use your power, if you don't then you're just as bad as he is."

"Don't lecture me on good and bad," Tyler said pointing his finger, "don't. I've had an epic dose of good and bad in the past few weeks and I don't need another Hallmark anthology."

"I knew it!" Claire said crossing her arms, "the Envoy, she's getting to you."

"No," he said snoring.

"She is," Claire said grinning, "oh no way. She's getting to you and I know she's being affected by you or she wouldn't have torn out of here like it was the plague."

"Oh that's nice," Tyler said.

"She's so getting to you," she said biting her lip.

"Oh no," he said shaking his head, "I know what you're thinking and the answer is no. Never."

"Alright, whatever you say," she said holding up her hands and heading for the stairs, "oh and just so you know," she looked down, "she was a Witch, before she was an Envoy."

"Goodnight Claire," he said.

"Night Tyler."

...the next day...

Reid had always wondered how it felt to walk towards your impending doom. It was absolutely terrifying. He wanted to be numb, he wanted to be anything but sick which was what he felt like he was going to be any moment. The entire Covenant was there, so was Sarah and Kate. It was getting harder and harder to think of Sarah and Kate as separate people, they were part of the Covenant in his mind now. They were doing his Ascension at the Putnam barn as sort of a test run for Tyler's Ascension.

As they got there, they saw Merrick standing in a pair of loose black pants and a black wife beater. There was a leather jacket on the floor that they assumed to be his lying near one of the beams. His hair was messy and his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. Claire was leaning against one of the pieces of rubble wearing sunglasses, black pants and a black tank top as well. Unlike Merrick she was also obviously wearing a hot pink sportsbra that made Tyler smirk.

"Hey boys," she said standing up, "alright we've got the Witch Hunters from around there," she motioned towards the trees, "and we've got Parker's people over there," she said pointing to another side, "and the rest of them will be spread out around here."

"I feel sick," Reid muttered paling.

"It's okay," Pogue said taing some of his weight and leading him over to the middle of the barn.

Suddenly the Witch Hunters became visible. Silently Merrick moved to one side and Claire to the other. And then Parker appeared with Sonya next to him. She was dressed like a doll, some knockoff locket around her neck. She also hadn't covered up this time and bruises decorated her skin like some sick version of makeup. She was wearing another loose dress and the sight of her looking like a broken angel made Claire sick to her stomach.

"Sonya?" Reid questioned looking at the girl who now wouldn't meet his eyes before he doubled over with a groan.

"Don't kill him," Merrick said, "remember?"

"I think I'll have my hands full," she said looking at the Witch Hunters as Reid began to cough and they started forward.

"Shit, this isn't good," Caleb said, his eyes on Reid whose Ascension should've started a full minuet ago, "why isn't he Ascending?"

Reid closed his eyes as the sky began to darken. It hit Claire that Sonya hadn't actually seen an Ascension before and she looked over as Reid threw his head back as lightening coursed through him. He screamed painfully and Sonya shuddered, closing her eyes and turning her head away. Reid's screams echoed through the sudden night. Suddenly on Witch Hunter started forward. Claire walked out to meet him, ducked under his punch and twisted his neck the wrong way.

"Oh shit," Merrick said turning around, "Claire--"

"I"m fine!" Claire shouted back tugging a sword from one of the Witch Hunters and slicing it through another body, "make sure he finished Ascending!"

"Right," Merrick said looking around for any threats, "make sure--" he glanced at his watch, "it's okay! It should take longer than usual, he's got more power."

"Merrick!" Claire shouted as she kicked another Witch Hunter in the gut while slicing through another, "Merrick! Get Sonya!"

"Wha-" Merrick turned around to see Parker rip the locket from around her neck, his power lifting her off her feet. Merrick's reaction was instant and he slammed blue flame into Merrick's arm, forcing him to drop Sonya. Sonya shook herself and looked around before scrambling to her feet. One of Parker's lackey's grabbed her arm and she slammed her fist into his nose, breaking it. She hit the ground next though, dragged down by him. Reid's Ascension finished and the Witch Hunters that were left disappeared into the woods.

Merrick and the five of them minus Reid were in the best shape. Reid was breathing hard, trying not to pass out. Sonya was unmoving in the grass. Merrick walked over to her and bent down, picking her up. Claire studied the sword and shrugged. She nodded and Merrick who shifted Sonya's weight and flicked his fingertips, burning the bodies.

"Alright lets get out of here before Parker comes back," she said shaking her head, "you got her?"

"I got her," he said looking back over his shoulder as Tyler and Caleb hefted Reid's weight. Reid's head lolled onto Pogue's shoulder, his eyes closed. Claire looked around and shook her head at the sight.

"Come on, lets go home," Caleb said wearily.

"Right," Claire said stumbling slightly before shaking herself.

They headed back to the Mansion. Inside the living room was the Envoy and in front of her was the half naked, badly scarred form of Chase Collins.


	12. Enter the Maze and Know the Prize

"This is so ridiculous."

"Its sweet."

"Okay we've got about fifty people trying to kill us, I've got some serious injuries and we have Sonya unconscious in the house."

"You killed about forty eight of the people, your injuries are braced, bandaged and healing and Sonya's got The Envoy, Tyler and Reid watching her--and Evelyn if she's not too drunk."

"Oh that makes me feel so much better," she snapped.

Ipswitch had one truly gorgeous restaurant. And because of all the near death brushes, Pogue and Caleb had said they were taking Sarah and Kate out with or without the permission of their temporary Guardians. It had taken Merrick and Claire all of two seconds to realize they were serious and about to become a serious liability. So the two of them had no choice but to follow them, secretly of course. And now while the four of them were off in la la land, Merrick and Claire were on opposite ends of the restaurant looking for any potential threats.

Claire hated to eat alone. It was a little known fact and when it was in her own apartment she was fine. But in the middle of a fancy restaurant? She hated it. Of course her face was a smooth mask and she held a book in one hand, but she was busy imagining that the entire restaurant was staring at her. She tapped her fingers against the table and grabbed the paper that she had taken with her, the spell.

It was so odd to see things come together. She had always had bad experiences in the Covenant-magic world, but for the first time it looked like there was some kind of hope. She turned the paper over and over, barely looking up as her glass of wine was refilled. The cuts on her ribs stung under the dress, despite the multiple bandages. She shook her head and looked at the door.

Something was clearly wrong with the Envoy, there wasn't any denying it. First off the notion that Chase Collins could teleport himself anywhere was completely ridiculous. He may had been powerful but only Reid could Use in his sleep and no-one could Use like that when they were in an enchanted sleep. Which could only mean the Envoy had moved him herself. She said she was going to bring him back but to go that quickly she had teleported him, there wasn't any other explanation. But she wasn't actually cast out, breaking a few rules was bad but you had to break a hell of a lot more in order to be cast out.

"You're spacing," Merrick said over her earpiece.

"Sorry," she said brushing back a piece of her hair.

She heard him snort and looked away guiltily. Her mind had been wandering. She toyed with the piece of hair. She really shouldn't have cut it, really. Unable to contain her curiosity, she turned her head and looked over at the date going on. Caleb and Sarah were at one table with Pogue and Kate at another. It was totally impossible to not see that they were happy. She cradled her head in her hand and smiled.

"Stalker," Merrick said.

...The Danvers Mansion...

"Ow."

"Hold still."

"Stop hurting me."

Reid shook his head and put down the peroxide, looking at Sonya. She was showered and dressed in a pair of loose sweat pants and a tank top. She had come out in a loose long sleeved shirt and he had sent her right back. She had complied and he had been terrified that she was somehow broken. She set him strait the second she came back. Now he was cleaning her cuts.

"I can do this," she said defensively.

"When you can reach the scratches on your back and you let me know," he said taking her hand firmly and holding it over the sink, "in the mean time, hold still."

"Sorry," she said and let him pour peroxide on her cuts, "I'm not used to being rescued," he didn't retort, "she told you, didn't she? I'm going to kill her."

"So you fell in with a bad guy, we've all done that," Reid said placing a band aide on her skin.

"I just thought," she closed her eyes, hating herself for tearing up, "I just thought it was over, you know? No, I knew that he'd want me back but I thought if I just kept running, if I kept him away from everyone that everything would be okay for them. And now, now I've led him right to the last member of that group who knows--I've led him right to that stupid Locket."

"Okay Claire is very capable of taking care of herself--and us," Reid admitted grudgingly.

"Not that I expect you to believe me, what with me sitting in your bathroom crying and all, but I was capable too until Parker," she sighed and pressed a hand to her face, "I just thought this time I would be able to."

"Kill him?" Reid asked.

"Yes," she said, "but I can't kill him," she closed her eyes, "I've put men in bodycasts and everything but I can't kill anyone. I just can't take a life--" she laughed, but it ended in a sob, "and here I am because--"

"Because you're not a psycho-killer?" Reid asked, "I think that falls under the category of good things."

"Not that I don't appreciate this, but I've been a total bitch to you, why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because," he said putting the last band aide on, "you saved me," he put the kit away, "and I don't like owing people."

"Then we're even," she said squaring her shoulders and wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand, "so you are a--"

"Warlock," he said holding the door, "hey, you wanna see a dead guy?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Well he's just unconscious but it's still pretty cool."

Downstairs Caleb led Sarah upstairs. She had been sleeping in his room, both still had nightmares often enough to seek comfort in each others arms. Caleb was unusually quiet, he hadn't really spoken since they left the restaurant, well, nothing past casual conversation. But he hadn't stopped smiling either so she didn't think it was bad. He led her into the room that she was starting to think of as 'theirs' and closed the door.

"My family has a long history of endangering people they love," he said, "somewhere in the long history, someone was unusually smart and figured out how to protect them."

He took her hand.

"I know we're not thinking about anything but tomorrow," he said, "and even if we weren't, we just started seeing each other. Maybe someday we'll be thinking, you know," he said flushing faintly, "but in the mean time, I don't know what I'd do if anyone used you again."

She felt something cold in their hands and pulled hers away slightly, opening her hand. On a long silver chain was a spectacular engagement ring. She sucked in her breath. Even in the moonlight the stones sparkled brilliantly. She looked up at him, speechless and for the first time she realized exactly what she was feeling.

"Why?" she asked, suddenly desperate to hear the words. He ducked his head and laughed softly.

"Because I love you," he said firmly, "I am in love with you."

She leaned forward.

"Me too," she whispered before kissing him soundly. She felt the chain disappear from her hands and gently lock itself around her neck. Merrick flicked his fingers and closed the door, walking down the hall.

"Stop glaring," he said to the Envoy, "technically it's not Using."

She shook her head and walked off, only to be stopped by Claire. Claire stood blocking her path, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes practically full of fire. She grabbed the Envoy and dragged her into one of the rooms, slamming the door and locking it securely behind her.

"What?" the Envoy demanded.

"Don't 'what' me," Claire hissed, "you can mind fuck everyone here because they don't know about the Envoys but I do. I know that Chase didn't just magically get here and that he wasn't transported in the way that he was supposed to which would have taken at least a week. That leaves one option and I mean only one which is that you teleported him here."

"And if I did?" the Envoy demanded.

"You're not supposed to do that," Claire hissed, "I felt the surge of power and the Witch Hunters attacked us which means that some Witch Hunter attacked Chase which means that you saved him," she accused.

"Watch your tongue," the Envoy snarled, "I do not have to listen to accusations from you."

"Oh right, because I'm just the fallen Envoy. You missed the full story because I am now a Guardian and I still know the Ancient Laws. You're supposed to enforce them and you're supposed to do everything in your power to keep them in place," Claire shook her head, "you broke some serious rules," she said, "have you been cast out yet?"

"No and I will not be," she said drawing herself up, "the rules make sense, the Laws have worked since the beginning of magic. I believe they are necessary, they must be upheld and I will uphold them."

"You were once human," she said, "you were once a Witch, you still have your emotions."

"I do not," she said.

"Do too."

"Do not!" the Envoy burst out, "I am an Envoy. That human Witch is dead."

"Whatever you say," she said unlocking the door, "by the way, what was your name?"

"Envoy," she said brushing past her out into the hall.

"We are so screwed," Claire said hurrying out of the room. Unfortunately she realized that she was going to need help and know it all Merrick was not going to be the kind of help she needed. Kate, Pogue, Sarah and Caleb were occupied doing nothing that she wanted to know about which left Sonya and Reid. She ducked out of the room and ran down the hallway looking frantically for Reid and Sonya.

"There you two are," she said throwing herself into the room, "is that a dead guy? Cool."

"What's going on?" Sonya asked suspiciously.

"Well we've got a little problem concerning the Envoy," she said, "and the fact that she's giving you, uh, shall we say 'special treatment'."

"Well she hasn't been giving us any 'special treatment'," Reid said imitating her.

"Not that kind you stupid boy," she said crossing her arms, "I mean magical special treatment."

"What do you mean by that?" Sonya asked suspiciously, "she's breaking the what?"

"Ancient Laws," Claire said, "basically she can't do that without being cast out like I was. There's very few reasons why she'd do that and its fairly obvious which one it is."

"Oh please don't say it," Sonya said catching on.

"Well someone has to," she said, "if we don't have an Envoy, then we've in serious trouble because you may not have enough time to win another one over."

"I am going to kill someone," Sonya said, "I hate Warlocks, I hate Love and I really hate this whole World," she stormed over to Claire and grabbed the locket from around her neck, "I don't understand why its always the little things. This stupid locket is the cause of everything."

"Don't do that!" Claire screamed and tackled Sonya to the ground, wrestling the locket out of her hands, "you can't open the locket. Its a locket filled with power. Parker's smart enough to know that people would rule out the simplest way to unleash the power and that is to open the locket," she stood up and brushed her hair out of her face, "I'm holding onto this for now because you are insane."

"Fine!" Sonya said getting to her feet, "but I will figure out a way to destroy that locket and when I do I'm going to blow it up in that son of a bitches face."


	13. Three Steps Over Heaven

"You cannot be serious," Kate said crossing her arms, "she cannot be serious!"

"I think she is," Sarah said looking from Kate to Claire.

"Well this is just silly, I know how to fight," Sonya said crossing her arms, "i do not need to be here."

"Yes you do," Claire said putting her hands on her hips, "now I bribed the Envoy to guard the door and Merrick to be my lovely assistant for the lesson," she looked at him and he hung his head, defeated, "so don't even think about going to the door."

"And you expect us to do what, exactly?" Kate asked.

Claire laughed and threw a pair of staffs to the ground.

"What are they doing?" Caleb asked looking over at the locked doors, "if they break anything my mom's going to kill me."

Reid snorted and Tyler coughed to hid his own. LIke he had been doing for the entire morning, Pogue remained completely silent and stared off into space. Caleb glanced over at him and hid his smile. Reid and Tyler traded a look. There was only one thing that made Pogue shut up and become brooding.

"So," Reid said reaching behind Pogue and grabbing something, "were you planning on sharing the good news."

"Give that back," Pogue said jumping to his feet.

"Woohoo, Tyler would you look at that," Reid said sharing the prize,"thats impressive."

"Reid I'm not kidding," Pogue said, "give it back."

"Easy tiger, you've got an hour or two before they come out of the training school that Claire's set up," Reid looked over at the crash, "maybe a little longer."

"Oh crap," Caleb said getting to his feet.

"Eh, that was probably just Merrick," Reid said glancing over.

"Eh?" Caleb questioned, "he could be seriously hurt."

"Stop worrying," Reid said tossing the box back.

"Why is he the calmest one?" Pogue demanded catching it, "why the hell is he so calm?"

"Because we've got a fucking body upstairs who, when he wakes up, will most likely try to kill us. Because we've got a ton of people who want us dead right fucking now. Because I just found a few days ago that my father committed magical fucking suicide. Because its all so fucking much that it really seems kind of surreal."

"Oh don't go having a breakdown on us man," Tyler said, "if anyone's going to its me. The three of you have almost passed out during your Ascensions and when I do mine we've got to resurrect Chase."

"Not that this isn't heartwarming," the Envoy said walking into the room, "but we have a serious problem."

"Which is?" Tyler asked.

The Envoy threw open the blinds and pointed. It took them a moment for them to see the glint of silver through the woods. The Envoy sighed, exasperated at their blank looks and lack of response.

"It's a lookout, I counted five of them which I can only presume is for the five of you," she sighed, "but thats not the problem, the problem is that I can only see silver of their whatever. I only know they're watching, they're blocking me form knowing whether they work for Parker, the Guardians, the Witch Hunters or the Envoys."

"Wouldn't you know if they were comrades?"

"One would think," the Envoy said, "but thats not the way it works-" she looked over as another crash resounded, "she knows no-one can heal right?"

"We've decided that each crash is Merrick," Tyler said.

"Good plan," she said nodding as the door rocked precariously.

The door slammed inwards as Sonya sailed through it. She threw her legs up and flipped to her feet, grabbing the staff and bringing it up into a guarding position as Claire approached. She blocked and dove over Claire's attack, sweeping her feet out from under her and catching her with the end of the staff, flipping her up and throwing her feet over her head before pressing the end of the staff to her neck.

"And that," Sonya said, "ladies and gentlemen is staff fighting."

"I am injured," Claire snapped getting to her feet.

"Sore loser."

"Cheater."

"I think we're done," Sarah said looking at the boys and trying not to smile.

"Right, so, tomorrow," Claire said picking up the staffs, "go get cleaned up.

Sonya headed back into the living room where Merrick was lying on the ground. She headed into the room and pulled out the first aide kit. She tugged on gloves and went to work on his cuts. He had a few long scratches and a couple of bruises that would be spectacular in a few days. He had also stepped between two of their blows and was currently out like a light.

"What happened to him?" Reid asked looking at Merrick.

"He might have received the end of the staff," she said.

"He could have a concussion," he reasoned.

"No he couldn't," she said, "Merrick's body doesn't work like mine," she looked up at him, "his body works like yours," she looked back down, "or it did at one point."

"He was a Warlock?" he asked.

"Yes he was," she said, "or he is, I'm not sure its really kind of confusing and I am the wrong person to ask," she continue wrapping a bandage around his ankle, "point is that he is not going to be happy when he wakes up, angry and swollen. Really really swollen," she made a face, "maybe we should put him in the same room as Chase, make him feel better when he wakes up."

"Ha ha--" Reid began and was cut off at the sound of a very high pitched scream from somewhere. They ran out of the room as fast as they could and sprinted down the hallway towards the scream. The Envoy was looking absolutely horrified, her hands clapped over her mouth, "what the--"

"I can't believe you slept with him!"

"Oh okay," Sonya said pushing Reid back, "we do not want to be here right now, we just don't," she pushed him back harder and closed the door, "try to be quiet you two."

"You are such a slut!" the Envoy cried right before the door shut.

Sonya cracked up, covering her mouth to muffle the sound. She leaned against the wall and laughed. Even Reid found it hard not to crack up. Merrick limped into the room, a little dazed and seriously in pain. He looked at the door and heard the muffled yelling of insults. He shook his head and walked away muttering something about killing and having sex.

"Hey wait up!" Pogue said chasing after Merrick.

...Upstairs...

Kate came out of the shower, toweling off her hair. She walked into the room that she was supposed to be sharing with Sarah. Of course more often than not she found herself alone in the room. It wasn't unusual. If her father had even thought she and Pogue were doing anything except kissing he would--well he would do something very stupid and bad. While she knew that, it was still odd to see Sarah and Caleb fall so deep and madly in love. She had loved Pogue, but she had always seen him as this daring and rebellious bad boy. Now it seemed like he was something else, someone else and neither of them were really sure how to deal with it. It was like they were re-learning each other. It was like they had to re-do every conversation they ever had.

She walked into the bedroom and stopped. Lying on her bed with a dress. She drew her finger across the fabric, the silk cold under her fingertips. She lifted the liquid silk by the thick straps and turned it around in her fingers, letting the light change the color of the silk from a midnight blue to an almost pale blue. She lowered the silk and ran a fingertip across the white lily that lay next to it, lifting the flower up and inhaling. Next to it was a note.

Pogue paced the garden--or what had once been the garden. It was winter and snow had covered the ground. But thanks to a little help it was completely different. Snow still blanketed the ground, but that was about it. Draped in the crystal trees were fairy lights that the Claire and Sonya had strung up with Sarah's direction. Surrounding the table set for two were hundreds of white lilies--Kate's favorite flower--that technically should've been impossible to get but that Merrick had helpfully 'supplied'. And around the were white candles that glowed beautifully. And Merrick had done something so that surrounding the table was warm air, warm enough so that Pogue didn't need a jacket and Kate could wear the dress that Sarah had assured him she would absolutely love.

"Pogue?"

Pogue turned around and felt his heart stop. Kate stood there, dressed in the satin dress and as stunningly beautiful as the day he had met her. He smiled as she looked around with absolute wonder on her face and all thoughts of timing flew out of his mind. He walked up to her and took her hands. She looked around completely dazzled, her eyes landing on him.

"This is amazing," she said, "I thought you weren't supposed to--"

"I didn't Use," he said, "Merrick and everyone helped--the old fashioned way for the most part," he ducked his head, "but I realize how odd this has to be and I wanted to have one night that was for us," he smiled, "I even had the Envoy guard the windows."

And then he told her everything. The Covenants, the consequences and all the fantastic things that he could do. He had told her the basics but he needed her to understand the truth. He told her all the stupid family stories about when he and the others first got their powers and nearly blew Reid's house up. She told him about a time when she wasn't the graceful woman but a complete klutz. Surprisingly Sarah and Claire had been roped into being waiters. It turned out that Sonya was able to cook as was Merrick and the Envoy knew a few tricks too.

And then it was time.

Of course it was hard to figure out how to handle it and for a moment he considered chickening out. And then he looked at the window and Claire mimed exactly what she'd do to him if he did before the Envoy yanked her backwards and the curtains closed. He turned back to Kate who smiled and ducked her head before looking up. Suddenly all the fear he had been feeling seemed to go away and he smiled back.

"Marry me."

"What?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"That came out wrong," he said shaking his head, "I had this whole long speech prepared about how much I love you and the reasons why but," he looked at her, "but now I look at you and when I see you everything seems like it will be okay. When I look at you, I see the future. I cannot imagine a world without you in it and I don't want to. I love you Kate and I know I lied to you but it was stupid to think that I could protect you by not telling you. I would spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you but I would love it if you would let me do that by doing me the honor of being my wife," he came around the table and knelt in front of her as he pulled out the black box he had been carrying and opened it to show the diamond ring,"Will you marry me?"

"Yes," she said, her eyes full of tears, "yes I will marry you."

He slid the diamond onto her finger and pulled her to her feet and spinning her around. She laughed as he put her on her feet and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled back, laughing and crying at the same time. He laughed and pushed the tears off her eyes and kissed her again. They broke apart and looked at the window where there rag tag family were jumping up and down. Kate and Pogue kissed again before he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his frame.

"Oh and before you ask," he said, "I did ask your father for permission."

...Later...

"Okay, wow," Sonya said, "all I can say is wow."

"That was amazing," Claire said.

"It was--" the Envoy sighed, "it was magical."

"The three of you have gone soft," Merrick accused, "you do realize that during the Ascension you'll have to kill, probably, a lot."

"Don't freak, we won't have a chick flick moment," Claire said.

The four of them had unofficially turned Chase Collins room into their HQ. For some reason everyone in the house slowly found themselves spending more and more time in the room with the badly scarred man who they barely knew. No-one could really explain why they did but everyone felt the invisible pull of the man who had roped them in before they knew who or what he was.

He really was gruesome and even more so on the elegant bed that he was resting on. He was dressed in sweatpants because the scars didn't go far below his waist. They started on the right side of his face and wrapped around his neck before continuing down his left arm and the entire length of his spine. He still was handsome, but it was different now. They also decorated his chest and his ribs on his left side. The scars were fascinating and twisted. Chase himself looked oddly peaceful, his chest rose and fell softly as he slept, unaware that the men who had fought against him were now fighting for him.

"I want a proposal like that," Claire announced.

"You?" Merrick asked raising his eyebrows.

"Yes I want a romantic proposal with my favorite flowers and thousands of little lights. I want the guy to have a speech planned out but forget it because I'm so amazing. I want--"

"Details," Merrick said, "I want a glimpse into the mind of a woman."

"Fine!" she said, "well I don't know when it would happen or anything. But I want there to be roses involved," Sonya raised her eyebrows, "I like roses. Red roses because white are sad. I also like the Tiare flower and Gardenias, because they smell so amazing. And I want to be in love with the guy, that passionate, vibrant, sweep-you-off-your-feet love. I want that perfect moment where the world stops and its just the two of us. But I do not want him to go on his knees. If I'm going to love someone for the rest of my life he is going to be my equal."

"And that," Merrick said, "is why you'll never get married."

"Ha ha," Claire said.

"Well I want him to be romantic. I want the epic and glorious proposal. I want a fairytale--" she grinned, "like that one. I want thousands of fairylights and flowers and the promise of a life together. Happily ever after," Claire laughed, "hey I can dream can't i?"

"What about the guys?" Merrick asked, "there's a lot of pressure on us to, ahem, perform. We have to rope you in and plan all this out--"

"Hey we're lowering ourselves to being yours for the rest of ours lives," Claire said, "you want us to agree then it better be spectacular."

"I think women should propose," Merrick said, "equality."

"Uh-huh," Sonya said, "yeah, right."

"It takes out the romanticism," the Envoy spoke up for the first time, "there's something nice about knowing that for the rest of your life, you'll be with this other person. When it happens and you know that there's no-where else you'd rather be in the world but in their arms. When you know that fighting with them is worth so much more than being with someone else, thats when its right to propose."

"Well look whose a hopeless romantic," Claire said grinning, "If I didn't know better I'd say you were in love."

"No," she said looking back out the window, "no I'm not in love?"

"Then why are you blushing?" Sonya asked.

"I am not blushing!" the Envoy cried, horrified, "Envoys do not blush!"

"And that is why I am not an Envoy anymore," Claire said, "and don't look at me like that," she cracked up, "I am not a slut."

"We love you anyway," Sonya said.

...Later...

"Don't open that."

Sonya sat on the window seat, twirling the locket between her fingers on its long chain. She was wearing a loose nightshirt and very badly in need of doing laundry. She looked over at Reid who had just walked into the room and then back at the window. It had started to rain softly, just a light drizzle that was barely noticeable in the darkness but chilled the glass so it was cold against her bare leg.

"I won't open it," she said looking at it, "I hate artifacts like this," she said turning it over, "I stole things like this for years but I always hated them."

"How old are you?" Reid asked.

"Not that old," she said turning the locket over, "how old are you?"

"Eighteen," he said sitting on the couch.

"I'm a year older than you," she said, "and though she may seem horribly mature and old," she wrapped an arm around herself, "Claire's only a year older than me."

"You're nineteen, Claire's twenty--how old is Merrick?"

"Parker's age, he's twenty six," she said, "i think, around there."

"And what about the Envoy?" he asked.

"Well," she said, "according to Claire the time she's spent not channeling the Ancient Laws, the Envoy is actually an eighteen year old Witch by the name of--"

"What?!" Reid cut her off getting to his feet, "she's how old? So the four of you who we're supposed to be trusting our lives too, you're our age?"

"How old did you think we were?" she demanded getting to her feet.

"Older--older or wiser or not so our age--" he stumbled over his words and Sonya crossed her arms angrily realizing that she was wearing an oversized button down shirt that hit her mid-thigh and was left unbuttoned revealing a hint of the black bra she wore--that was the most likely reason he was stumbling.

"My eyes," she said harshly, "are up here."

"I know where your eyes are," he snapped.

"Could've fooled me," she said, "and I do not see how the fact that I'm a year older than you changes anything. I can still beat you up and save your life and stand in front of you in a button down shirt and black underwear and argue about this pointless fact that should hold no baring on anything!"

"Do you always have to be this infuriating?" he demanded, "does everything have to be a fight with you because of what I am? That's a little low don't you think?"

"Don't talk to me about low," she snapped, "this has nothing to do with what you are--"

"Which is?" he demanded, "what am I exactly?"

"A low life, a disgusting chauvinistic pig who uses his charm/good looks or lack therefore to bed as many women as possible and get into as many fights as possible so no-one will see what a scared, sad little boy he is," she grabbed the locket and stormed out of the room. He grabbed her wrist, "let go of me," she said, his skin hot against hers.

"Oh get off your high horse. You're a cold, closed off bitch who steals things for the rush. You got hurt once, big deal. What are you going to do, close off for the rest of your life?" he demanded.

"Like I'd listen to anything you say," she said twisting free and turning to walk out of the room but he grabbed her again, "what no--"

He cut her off by crushing her lips to his. She gasped at the contact as her back came into contact with the wall, his fingers lacing through hers. He was very very good at kissing and though she didn't want to Sonya found herself going disgustingly weak at the knees. Reid pulled back slowly and her eyes opened, a little dazed.

"What now?" she repeated and for the first time he had no reply.


	14. And Right back to Earth

"What the fuck is this."

Given the previous nights events it was understandable that Sonya was upset did not do cover her mood.

"It looks like an invitation," Claire said reaching over and plucking the creme colored stationary up, "oh shit," she breathed out, "this is really really spectacularly bad," she dropped her hand, "and why are you in such a bad mood?"

"Can we focus on the problem at hand?" Sonya said snatching up the invitation, "this party is on Tyler's birthday!"

"We have it every year," Caleb explained coming into the kitchen, "because he's born during winter break, it's just easier for us all to have one big birthday bash," he shrugged and then realized why Sonya was so angry, "oh shit."

"Oh shit is right," Claire said.

"No it's not the end of the world. Tyler's mom will make sure that we're not around everyone when he Ascends."

"Oh thats a relief," Sonya said crossing her arms, "because you know having Tyler Ascend, Resurrect Chase, defeat Parker and you know, make sure the entire world doesn't go to hell within the span of two minuets just isn't hard enough but now we have to do it in formal wear," she threw up her hands, "that's it, enough is enough," she stormed out.

"Where is she going?" Caleb asked sitting down.

"Upstairs to fume," Claire said flicking through the paper, "she said 'we' and she was pissed off which means she's not going anywhere out of earshot," she looked up, "you seem very happy for someone who maybe dead within a week."

"It must be shock," Caleb joked.

Claire shook her head and looked down at the paper, toying with a strand of short hair. She frowned and looked over at the window before looking down again. Frowning she red the same word about twenty times before standing up. Dimly she heard Caleb as what was wrong but she ignored him and headed out of the kitchen and down the hallway. She stepped out of the house and onto the front of the porch, looking around. She felt something and looked around, trying to figure out what it was.

"Go away Claire."

Claire turned around, closing the door behind her. She stepped onto the cold grass and headed around the side of the house. It was still early enough that the grass was wet with dew and the air was a little too cold for the tank top she wore. She didn't really feel it as she stepped around to find Merrick sitting on one of the chairs, cigarette in one hand and a bottle of something in the other. She walked over and sat on one of the chairs.

"I didn't know you smoked," she said looking at the cigarette with more than mild disgust.

"I said go away," he said closing his eyes.

"Stop sulking," she said, "its a dead give away."

"I don't care," he snapped before running his hands over his face, "how do you do it? How do you kill the people who were your friends? Your family?"

"I don't think about them like that," she said taking a drink from the bottle, "I can't think about them like that," she felt the warmth flood her.

"I can't do that!" Merrick burst out, "I can't just turn my back on them, I can't," he lowered his head, "I'm not strong, I can't," he looked at her, "I'm so sorry Claire."

The look on his face made her feel sick and in that instant she knew. He had that look on his face only once before, the night she had met him--the night that Parker had lost the locket. Claire tried to get up but the world seemed to push down on her. It hit her that she had been drugged, that Merrick had planned the trap and that he had betrayed them all.

"What," Claire stumbled over the words, "what did you do?"

"Hello Claire," a voice said as one hand came to rest on her shoulder. She looked up into the gold eyes of Parker before the world lurched and went black. Parker moved his hand and guided her onto her back. He brushed back her hair and trailed his fingers across her neck, frowning, "where's the locket?"

"I don't know," Merrick said looking down, "I though it was around her neck."

"Obviously not," Parker said picking her up, "well we have ways of finding out where it went," he said, "lets go."

...Later...

"Has anyone seen Claire?" Tyler asked coming downstairs.

"I saw her at breakfast," Caleb said frowning, "and she went outside."

"Well she's not out there," Tyler said, "Sonya!" Tyler yelled before Sarah clapped a hand over his mouth, "what?" Tyler questioned, his voice muffled.

"Pogue and Kate aren't out yet, don't disturb them," she said.

"What's going on?" the Envoy asked looking around.

"We don't know where Claire and Merrick went," Tyler said.

"Oh they're fine, Claire and Merrick can take care of themselves--and each other."

Far away, Claire woke up. She kept her body completely limp though and her breathing even as she tried to figure out where the hell she was. Her legs and hands were secured to a chair and ducktape was around her mouth. The fact that she felt like vomiting was a sign that she had been drugged, probably with a date rape drug. The effects were wearing off slowly but had gone enough so that she could think.

"You can open your eyes, I know you're awake," Parker said.

Claire rolled her eyes and looked at him. He had dressed down in a t-shirt and black pants. Knowing him that could only mean that she was going to be tortured. He turned around with a short rod and she squared herself. Parker grinned and tapped the rod against his hand where it buzzed faintly. He walked over to her and drew back his hand, tapping the rod so it connected with her arm sending a pulse of electricity racing down the joint. Claire hissed but said nothing. He ripped the duck tape off.

"I know that Sonya has the locket," he said tapping again, "and I know that you're planning to keep your little Covenant safe," he said tapping again, "and I know that you're also planning to escape."

"Wrong," Claire said as her muscles slowly were reduced to jelly, "I am not planning an escape," she said, "I'm planning how I'm going to kill you," she gasped as a particularly painful spasm went through her back.

"Funny, that's exactly what Merrick said when he approached me about this deal," he said, "do you know that he said he wished you had let him die that night?"

"You're an idiot if you think I'm going to listen to anything you say," she said.

"I think whatever makes it through the pain will stir up thoughts in your mind and make you wonder about everything."

"Idiot," she said, "you really think you're the first one to torture me?" she demanded

"Do you think you're going to be rescued like a princess?" he asked as she sagged forward, "now now, don't go fainting on me," he said tapping her face with his palm.

Claire bit on his thumb and rocked forward in the chair, grabbing the rod with her tied hands and slamming it as hard as she could into his groin. He gasped and she arched her back, grabbing his his pocket knife, cutting herself free. She tied him up and stood over him.

"Now then," she said drawing the knife across his cheek, leaving a faint red mark, "I'd love to kill you," she continued, "very slowly. But I know you have a role in this little game," she drew the knife lower, cutting him through the shirt, "and I know that killing you is only going to condemn me," she said drawing the knife to the waistband of his jeans, "and unlike Merrick I'm not so easy," she drew back the knife as if to stab him, "though it would be nice to know the feeling again," she brought the knife forward, slamming it into the inch of empty space between his legs, "I know that it won't do anything for anyone."

"You're not going to kill me?" Parker demanded tilting his head.

"No, Parker, I'm not going to kill you," she said pulling the knife free, "not because I love you or any stupid thing like that," she continued, "but because I am a Guardian and I don't need to kill anyone."

Parker nodded, seemingly impressed. Claire drew the rod back and slammed it into his skull, knocking him unconscious. She stumbled but steadied herself. Toying with the idea, she brushed back his short hair and placed the knife on his forehead. Five minuets later she slid out of the cell and knocked a female guard unconscious, stripping her and putting on the uniform.

She found the garage and looked around, quickly locating Merrick's car. She figured they would know where she was anyway so she stole it and sped out of there. She was running on pure adrenaline and knew it all too well. Fortunately Parker's little compound was within minuets of the Danver's Manor. She sped as fast as she could to the compound and stumbled out of the car, still going on overdrive. She headed to the door and pounded on it furiously.

"There you are," Caleb said pulling it open, "why are you dressed like tha--Jesus Christ, what happened to you?"

Claire opened her mouth to respond but no words came out. Instead of pretending to pass out, this time she really did. Caleb lurched forward and caught her as she passed out. Caleb shouted for help, not caring who he woke up. He picked her up and walked inside, closing the door. Sonya immediately directed Caleb to put her down and began to work on Claire, trying hard not to think about the possibility that Claire could be dead.

"She's been beaten, shocked, doped," Sonya bent her head, "she's been tortured--" she looked up, "where's Merrick?"

"Well he's not here," Tyler said.

"He betrayed her," Sonya said looking away, staring hard at the window, "alright lets get her into her room, she should be okay," she said looking at Caleb, "could someone get the kit?" she called following Caleb upstairs.

Reid held the first aid kit in his hands as he stepped up the stairs. He knocked on the door before opening when he got not response. Claire was lying on the bed, Sonya was standing with her back to him, her forehead cushioned by her arm against the wall. Reid silently put the first aid kit on the bed and looked at her, uncomfortable with the situation.

"You know, there's an old Guardian saying that if you want to fight monsters you have to become one or be one to begin with," she said, "that's why I left," she said turning around to face him, "I just didn't want to be a monster."

Reid closed his eyes and shook his head.

"You know what, not all Warlocks are bad," he said, "we're not. Not everyone's a monster. We're caught in the middle of this epic war that has nothing to do with us! You know who it's between? Its between you and Parker! We're caught in the middle because you can't kill him!"

"You think I don't know that?!" she shouted, "you think I don't know that its my fault your stuck in t he middle of this?! You think I'm proud of the fact that I can't kill Parker even though he cost me everything?! I wish I could! I look in the mirror and I wish I was like Claire and could kill without a second thought! But I can't! I can't just take life! I did the only thing I could that night, I stole and I ran as far away as I could," she looked away, "and I kept running. I haven't seen my family in two years! I haven't had a single relationship in two year! I've been beaten, spelled and tortured in ways that you can't imagine! Don't you think it would be easier if I could just kill Parker and finish this?! But I can't kill! I can't be a monster!"

"Neither can I!" Reid shouted, "and you don't seem to realize that no-one in this house is evil!" he turned around, frustrated, "but you have to let us help you. You have to stop running."

"I'm not running," she said sitting down hard, "hell i'm not even standing."

"Very funny," Reid said sarcastically, "do you think Merrick was working for Parker from the beginning?" Reid asked.

"I don't know," she said honestly, "but the only thing that would make sense is that Parker changed himself and that he was one of the two members of the Covenant that escaped," she shook her head, "who know--" she sucked in her breath.

"Sonya?" Reid demanded, "what--" he stopped as he saw the locket glowing. She was wearing a polo shirt and the locket had swung out. It was glowing a blood red. She tried to inhale but couldn't. Despite the no-using rule, Reid immediately did and broke the chain, letting the locket fall onto the bed. Released Sonya coughed as her knees buckled. Reid caught her, "I got you," he said.

"Locket," she said. He grabbed it and held it out to her. She grabbed it and the glowing immediately died.

"How did you--" he demanded, confused, "what just happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," she said stepping back and rubbing her neck with her free hand, "its the locket," he glared, "and me. I'm human, don't get me wrong, but I'm--" she sighed, "okay think of this power thing as a waltz with three steps. The first, you, are the ones able to wield it. The second, pretty much everyone else, are the ones controlled by it. The third, those like me, are removed from it."

"So you're saying your not affected by the power," he said.

"Thats what made me such a good thief," she said. Reid raised his eyebrows, "she told you I sucked, didn't she?" he nodded, "she lied. I'll have you know that i was a very good thief, especially when it came to magical artifacts. You see me and anything that directly touches my skin is removed from the power. If I'm attacked by a spell, it doesn't work. If some creature with enhancements attacks me, its as if they don't have them," she shrugged, "the really powerful who are removed from the power can actually remove the power from people without direct contact--I can do it but I have to be very close to them."

"So the locket," he began. She held out her hand to show that the locket was completely glow-free. She offered it to him and he picked it up. The locket slowly began to glow again. She picked it back up and the glow went out instantly, "wow. Okay so the next question is--"

"I didn't tell you because I I have deep seeded trust issues," she said crossing her arms, "happy?"

"You two are so loud," the Envoy said, "can we move the foreplay into another room maybe?"

"You sound like Claire," Sonya said, "I have to find a chain for this."

"So you're saying that if I were to Use on you, nothing would happen?" Reid questioned.

"No," she said looking up to him, "well no for anything that was touching my skin," she said.

"This touching your skin," he said backing her up against the wall, "do you mean directly?"

"Cell to cell," she said as he grabbed a pair of shoelaces and tie them together, holding out one end which she poked through the top of the locket. He took the ends of the shoelace and looped them around her neck, tying them together and before making sure the locket was under her shirt. She breathed in raggedly as he trailed his other hand up her bare arm, "we can't do this," she gasped out.

"Why not?" he asked wickedly.

"Because," she began as he dipped his head and pressed his lips to her neck, "because you're going to potentially die in a few days," she felt her head tilt, "and I hate Warlocks and boys like you."

"Boys like me," he asked.

"You're an asshole," she said as he resumed, "a complete asshole and I don't do blonds."

"Too bad," he said coming up, "I don't do thieves but here we are."

"Fair enough," she said leaning forward and pressing her lips against his.

"I totally called that," Tyler said to the Envoy.

"I didn't see that coming," the Envoy said faintly as the door to Reids room trembled slightly, "I'm going to check on Claire.

Claire who was doing her best to not be violently sick at the thought of what had just happened. She liked Merrick and he had completely betrayed her after she had saved her life. There was a certain irony to that considering how it had been with Parker. She had stripped from the fight and was standing under the spray of the shower, her hands braced against the cool tiles. She knew it was her own damn fault things like this kept happening, but just once she'd like it to end differently. She shrugged it off, tucking it away in the back of her mind with all the other wishful thoughts and turned off the water, wrapping a towel around herself.

She headed out of the bathroom and frowned.

She had the strangest feeling like someone was watching her.


	15. The Escape Artist and the Second Enemy

The mood at the table was nothing if not tense. In a few hours time was the party and the time when Tyler would Ascend. And even if they would like to think that Merrick's betrayal hadn't hurt, the truth was that it had. The same question was on everyones mind: would the Guardians send another before the party? Even so, no-one wanted to ask Claire, no one was actually sure how to deal with her. She had planned their defense perfectly, down to the last instant but she had done it with military precision. In fact, currently Claire was doing everything with military precision and scaring them all.

In truth Claire had liked Merrick a lot and despite her desire, the fact remained that his betrayal had left a raw, gaping wound. It was awful but he had kind of rescued her, no-one ever rescued her. It was silly, really, they were both so different than when they first met. But even so, it was weird to think that he could change colors so fast. She rested her chin on her palm and looking over at the window. Her mind wandered back to the first time she had met Merrick.

He had been Parker's 'brother' back then, not yet the powerful elemental Guardian. He had looked different too, paler with closely shorn dark hair. He had been hot, like all of Parker's cronies, but he had been more reserved than the rest of them. She had been the beautiful Envoy and he had been the most level headed of the group. Parker and her had a volatile, physical relationship and he had a girlfriend. But the two of them had still connected on some level. When she had been cast out by both Parker and the Ancient Laws, he had been the one to pick up the pieces and brought her back to her family. She had saved him that night, staying with him while his broken body healed and his power changed.

"Hey," Sonya said covering her hand with her own, "you okay?"

"Fine," Claire said standing up, "I'm going to check on the plans again," she said getting up and walking out of the room.

"What are we supposed to do?" Sonya asked helplessly, "I don't know what to do," she sighed, "how could he do this?! I didn't even know he knew Parker!" she dropped her head, "this is so confusing, my head hurts."

"Well we can't let her just close off," Kate said, "it's not healthy."

"what should we do?" Sonya asked, "what can we do?"

"Besides go up there and drag her down?" Kate asked, "I don't--"

"I do," Sonya said stumbling to her feet and running up the stairs. She yanked out her buzzing phone and threw it on the desk. She must have enough missed called to fill a phone book. She knew who was calling her over and over again, and though she was loathed to admit it, she need the help. She heard the door open and was about to tell whoever it was to fuck off before she realized it was the Envoy who nodded silently as if knowing what she was going to do. With an un-necessary pause, she hit the talk button.

"Hello?" she asked timidly

"Well it's about bloody time!"

"Bloody?" Sonya asked.

"Yes," came the reply, "they partnered me up with some Brit and Bloody's a curse word. I like it, it kind of encompasses everything," she sighed, "so what's Claire gone and done now? You gave her quite the shock you know."

"I know, look, I need your help. It's Merrick, he's gone to Parker's side."

"With good reason!" came the reply, "Merrick was Parker's brother, before that weird body-swap. It's just predictable that he'd swap sides, I'm sorry though. How's Claire taking it?"

"Not well," Sonya said, "and I'm at a loss of what to do."

"Don't do anything," came the distracted reply, "I'm on my way."

"Mel!" Sonya gasped, "Mel you don't have to--"

"I'll be there in two hours, just in time for that Ascension. Let me try to figure out what's really going on. I'll see you then okay?"

"Thanks," Sonya said hanging her head before hanging up.

"That wasn't who I think it was, was it?" the Envoy asked slowly getting to her feet, "it was! How do you know her?"

"How do you?" Sonya asked.

"I asked first," the Envoy said.

"She helped me ditch the thief thing," Sonya said, "she's helped Claire too. What about you?"

"We were neighbors," the Envoy said, "before all this," she added motioning to herself, "she sometimes covers for me."

"Well this should be fun," Sonya sighed.

"Hey, Sonya?" Reid asked coming in, "do we have re-enforcements?"

"You could say that," Sonya said placing the phone on the desk where it buzzed, "Mel?"

"How the fuck do I turn this thing off?! Yes she picked up!" she paused, "sorry, Sonya, hold on--got it. Two hours."

"Right," Sonya said closing the phone with a laugh, "so what's up?"

"Who was that?" Reid asked.

"A friend whose coming to help us out," she said walking past him, "don't worry, everything is going to work out."

"Did you finally loose it?" Reid demanded, "when the hell did you become and optimist?"

"Oh fuck."

"Wha--" he turned to where she was looking, "oh fuck."

There was a Witch Hunter in the house, or one of Parker's cronies, but either way he was standing there with some kind of force gathering in his hand. Sonya grabbed Reid and threw her arms around him. The attack blasted right by them, leaving deep scorch marks on the carpet. Sonya grabbed Reid's wrist and yanked him into one of the free rooms, slamming the door shut behind her. They were in Caleb's room which meant the best weapon was a textbook. Reid got ready to Use and Sonya shook her head. The man in the hallway kicked in the door and she chucked the textbook at him. It slammed into his head, momentarily stunning him.

And then Claire came. What happened next made even Sonya feel slightly nauseous. Claire didn't just block his power, she ripped it from him. His entire body collapsed inwards before literally exploding outwards along with enough power to make Reid feel like he was going to pass out. Sonya tried not to think about was was covering her or the fact that the hallway looked like something out of a horror movie. Claire who was just as covered turned on her heel and calmly walked away, as if nothing had happened.

"Oh my God," Sonya gasped, "what the fuck was that?! Claire!"

...Two Hours Later...

However much Claire and Sonya didn't 'do' small towns, you had to times that b a million to get exactly how much Melanie Crane loathed small towns. Yet even so she found herself parking her car and stepping out onto the path towards the old house. She was wearing a hot pink floor length dress that made her smile for some reason. Underneath it she had on a sports bra, tank top and a pair of long black pants that would allow her to move enough to defend the crazy teenagers. She reached up and knocked on the door.

"Hi Mel," the Envoy said smiling.

"Hi--"

"Envoy," the Envoy said hurriedly.

"Envoy?" she cracked up, "sorry, Envoy, right. So, where's Psycho bitch?"

"I think she's upstairs," the Envoy said, "let me go get Sonya."

"Who'd you think I was talking about?" Mel laughed.

"Sonya?" the Envoy came into Sonya's room, "Mel's downstairs," she said.

"Oh right," Sonya said getting up.

The Envoy did a double take. She was very used to seeing Sonya covered in sweat, tears, dirt or bruises. However, it turned out that with a little makeup Sonya was a lot more attractive. The fact that she was wearing a nude colored dress that shimmered so it looked like she was wearing glitter and nothing else really helped. As if following the Envoy's train of though she lifted up the hem of the long dress to show the flat shoes she had on and the black shorts.

"what?"

"You clean up nice," she said.

"Thanks," Sonya said blushing.

"Downstairs," the Envoy said.

"Going," Sonya said, "oh could you make sure Claire's not gone psycho yet?"

"Got it," the Envoy said walking to Claire's room. She knocked softly before opening the door.

"Claire?" she called looking around and stopped.

Claire was standing against the window looking down below her. The Envoy could only stare at her. She was wearing a long dress and while the rest of them were wearing more winter colors, hers was red as blood. It had a long slit up one side, showing a much darker and much shorter pair of loose shorts designed to look like a skirt. the dress had a back that followed the lines of a sports bra. In a single move she had managed to pull off the 'drop dead' part.

"Are you alright?" the Envoy asked softly.

"I will be when I separate Merrick's head from his body," she said grabbing her weapons and sticking them in the waistband of her shorts. Despite the hem of the dress she wore short, low shoes with a slight platform on them that made them fashionable.

"Claire listen to me, we have to keep--"

"I know what we have to do," Claire said cutting her off, "and I'll do it. But Melanie is more than capable of keeping the pulse going for a group of crazy teenagers."

The Envoy nodded and walked out of the room, wondering how in hell she was going to tell Sonya that Claire had lost in completely.

Sarah ran the brush through her hair the final time and laid it down. She was wearing a soft blue-green dress of some chiffon fabric that floated around her softly. Like everyone else the hem was long, brushing the floor. The top of the dress was halter necked and the back was low. Sarah's favorite part of the dress were the silver sparkles that started around the hem and wrapped up around the dress, flickering in the light.

"Wow."

She turned around to see Caleb. He looked stunned and she couldn't help but smile. He looked very good too, dressed in a black tuxedo. She stood up and walked over to him.

"You know," she said, "one day we're going to have to get dressed up fro something other than your impending almost-death."

He laughed and shook his head.

"You're right," he said, "I promise one day we'll get dressed up for something else."

"Good," she said walking over to him.

"Do you have it on?" he asked.

She tilted her head and he ran a finger along the neck of the dress, feeling the warm chain against his fingertips. he ran his fingers along the chain, feeling the ring at the end of it. He followed the chain around the end of it and carefully un did the clasp, sliding the ring off the chain.

"Caleb?" Sarah asked.

"My mother says it doesn't work unless you wear it like as a ring," he said.

He took her right hand and and carefully slid the ring onto her right hand. The diamonds actually glowed for a fraction of a moment, the power settling around her. She nodded and looked up at him, the odd power coursing through her. She wrapped her arms around Caleb and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. He closed his eyes and pulled her tightly against him.

Downstairs, Melanie leaned against the wall and looked out on the grounds. Sonya came downstairs and had to try hard not to smile.

"Thanks for coming," she said.

"Tell me something," Mel said, "why is it, no matter what happens, it always comes back to a man?"

"Oh not again with your sexist crap," Claire said coming down the stairs.

"Well if it isn't psycho-bitch," Mel said turning around, "so I guess this bypasses the whole 'how are you' question," Mel demanded, "thank God because if you pretended to be all nice and okay, we'd be wasting precious and valuable time. And since the only thing you'll be good for is filling body bags, I'm going to have a little conference with the other thinking member of the group," she grabbed Sonya and pulled her into another room.

"Wha--?" Sonya questioned as Mel pushed her against one of the walls, "what is going on?"

"It's Claire," she said glancing out, "you know about this whole immunity to Power thing? Well I don't expect you to know the finer points considering, but allow me to enlighten you. See, the immunity thing has one very large flaw and that is the fact that its very easy to get possessed."

"You mean Satanic possession?" Sonya hissed, "as in, Exorcist-style possession?"

"Well that's taking it a little far, but yes," Mel looked out, "someone like Parker whose, unfortunately, very good at what he does would be able to perform some kind of possession."

"So you're saying--"

"I'm saying there's a good chance she's possessed," Mel said, "now I hope I'm wrong, but in case I'm not we need to watch her so she doesn't go fucking mental on us and try to take someone out."

"I can't," Sonya said.

"Why not?" Mel demanded. Sonya blushed furiously, "oh don't tell me, you've got a date."

"So does the Envoy," Mel said, "This blows so much because I'm not actually able to babysit tonight, I've got to do what psycho bitch over there can't," she sighed, "aright I've got a contingency plan in place for this event."

"What's that?" Sonya asked.

"You'll see," Mel said, "come on, introduce me to this phenomenal group you've got."

...The Party Sight...

The Party.

It had to be put in capital letters because there was really only one way to put it. Despite the cold, somehow the Covenant families had managed to make a white tent into a tropical paradise. Everything was warm with the spicy, floral fragrance of the tropics. All around them was white. A white tent, white rug on the ground, white dance floor, white flowers. There was carefully done lighting in pale gold and thousands of white candles. Mel had got there first, her pink dress the only color in the tent.

"Well I haven't seen you in years."

Melanie turned around to see Evelyn sitting at one of the tables. She was dressed in a gold silk dress so pale it was almost invisible against the plush white back of the chairs. She was nursing a drink, even though it was just past seven o'clock and there would be a lot of alcohol at the party. She walked over to Evelyn and sat down, crossing her legs.

"Hi Evelyn," she said putting one hand on the table, "well this looks like it'll be fun."

"Are you here to kill them?" Evelyn asked taking a drink.

"That depends on them," Mel said.

"I thought it would come to this," Evelyn said standing up, "but I never thought you would be involved."

"Yes you did," Mel said looking at her, "you knew I'd be involved, like you knew Parker would be involved, like you knew it would come to this when you sent him to fight Chase," she stood up, "you knew because your husband knew. You knew because he told you," she shook her head, "its disgusting, it's disgusting that you thought you would protect everyone by keeping these secrets. You deserve to fucking rot in hell like your husband is un-doubtably doing," she stepped forward going toe to toe with the Danvers Matriarch, "protecting your son and his brothers from what?"

"From Using," Evelyn gasped, "I didn't want him to become Addicted like his father! I didn't want him to put these powers to any use! They're evil! They need to never be Used, ever! All they bring is tragedy!"

"I so do not need this right now!" Mel cried out, "I've been involved for less than a day and this is just insane--you're all completely crazy," she threw her hands up, "now when I say I've dealt with some seriously messed situations I am not being overly dramatic. But the fact is that a bunch of psycho teenage Warlocks running around and trying to be, I guess the word is stopped, by a crazy widow, well this is most definitely one of the more fucked up ones."

Evelyn just stood there and then she stiffened. Whatever protective magic left in Evelyn from the ring was beginning to be ripped from Claire. Sonya darted forward and tackled Claire to the ground, breaking the connection. Mel grabbed Evelyn and pulled her from the tent. Sonya pinned down Claire who struggled.

"Mel! What the fuck do I do?!" she shouted.

"Strip it!" Mel shouted pulling Evelyn out of the room as fast as she could, "strip it now!"

"What?!" Sonya cried.

"Do it!" Mel shouted as she led Evelyn out.

"Uh, problem," she said looking up as the guests began to file in. Claire and Sonya broke apart and got to their feet.

The party began.


	16. An Affair to Remember Part 1

"Okay, mind telling me what's going on?" Sonya demanded crossing her arms and looking at Reid, "you've been frighteningly quiet this entire night," he said nothing, "well?"

"I think we're going to die."

Sonya rolled her eyes at the quiet admission. They had been aware of the impending doom for a while and he was only coming to this realization now? For some reason that was pissing the hell out of her. Actually, a lot of things were bugging her. Claire was obviously possessed and from what she heard of Evelyn and Melanie's conversation, Melanie was planning to make an appearance and kill them all anyway. It wasn't that big a shock, saving lives for Mel was far more of a side job than an actual one.

"Obviously," she sniffed and looked around the room.

She loathed parties like this with every bone in her body. Ever since she was a little girl and her mother used to dress her up in ruffles and lace, she hated them. Without a lance, she picked up the hem of her overly long dress and walked outside into the cold. The icy air nipped at her through the thin material but she couldn't bear to go inside. The place was, for lack of a better word, spectacular. Everything glowed. She looked around and realized that off in the distance was the Putnam barn and for some odd reason, there seemed to be a path to it through the lights.

She let the hem of her dress fall and started forward, spellbound. The cold snow soaked through her shoes within seconds but she could hardly feel it, in fact the cold itself seemed to slowly ebb away. In the back of her mind something slammed full force through the lack of feeling but she could barely hear it. But somewhere in the back of her mind, something said that this was not a good thing. In the next instant she felt something very sharp dig into her thumb, almost clear through the pad to the nail. She sucked in her breath and pulled back her hand from the rusty nail, looking around at the Putnam barn.

Disoriented, she stumbled and hit the snow hard. Pushing herself to her feet, she looked down, fascinated as her blood painted the snow a dark red. From the drop of red, a rose pushed up and bloomed. The roses spread out around her, covering whatever was left of the barn but never touching her. She clenched her hand to her chest and looked around at the flowers.

"Where are you?!" she demanded looking around, "I know you're out there!"

Only silence answered her.

...the Party...

Melanie drummed her fingers against the table, making almost no sound against the thick table cloth. Her other hand held up her chin, her eyes scanning the room. It was very true that she was there as a last resort. Sonya's call had, at the very least, told her that there was more to the story than the people coming back and saying it was 'impossible' were letting on. Also the fact that Evelyn Danvers was obviously insane.

Covenant of silence was a joke that started during the Witch Hunting days as a way to protect cowards. Back then of course it was necessary, it was a way to survive. Today it was a way to have cowards and people who couldn't deal with the Power live out their lives pretending to be human, pretending to be normal. It was people like Evelyn Danvers who kept things that way, people afraid of change and afraid of the good that could be done with the Power.

Melanie had no patience with people like that.

She had a world to save.

Turning in her chair she looked back over at Claire. If there was ever a train wreck waiting to happen it was Claire. At the moment Claire was dragging a body across the snow. Would it have made sense to leave Chase in the car and drive it there? Yes. Would it have made sense to send one of the Sons with her? Again, yes. Was Claire strong enough and currently possessed to do it herself? Absolutely yes. That was Melanie's strategy: to exhaust Claire enough so that she would have no strength to do anything stupid. When someone was possessed, the best strategy was to exhaust them completely so they went unconscious. There was a better strategy but there was no actual time to prepare a ritual of any kind.

"Where's Sonya?"

"Hmm?" Melanie looked up at Tyler. Next to him was the Envoy who looked equally concerned, "what do you mean where's Sonya?"

"We looked around the tent, the kitchen, the garden--she's not here."

"Oh god."

On the dance floor, Kate and Pogue moved to the music. They had both grown up around parties like this. Kate had worn the dress that Pogue had given her and Pogue was dressed like the rest of the men in a black tuxedo. The two of them were going to formally announce their engagement but even so she was wearing the ring. She had turned the diamonds so it only looked like she was wearing a ring but even so half the guests were talking about it. Not that it mattered to either of them, ever since the engagement the two of them only had eyes for each other.

"You know, I thought this would feel, I guess, odd," she said.

"I thought so too," Pogue admitted, "but it isn't," he smiled, "and I've been thinking that after we survive this, we should announce our engagement."

"Tonight?" she asked, surprised.

"Absolutely," he said kissing her deeply.

Sarah was talking to some rich woman who was horribly boring and seemed to be far more fascinated with the ring on her finger than anything else. She finally excused herself from the room and headed outside. Caleb was standing in one of the serving rooms, a few feet away from his mother. He had pulled off his bow tie and the first few buttons of his tuxedo as well as the jacket. His mother stood on the other side of the room, her arms crossed.

"You owe me an explanation mother," he said.

"That is far more complicated than you think," she said, "I saw your father, Reid's father--everyone with the Power waste away. I wanted to make sure that you wouldn't be taken advantage of."

"You knew about this whole world?" he demanded, "the Envoys, the Guardians, everything?"

"No," she said, "I only knew there were others out there. The Covenant of Silence is one of the oldest--"

"Its outdated and stupid," Caleb said drawing himself up, "look at everything that's happened here! The Covenant of Silence is dead from this moment on. Whatever we choose to do with the Power is our choice, no-one elses," he walked over to the door, "now we have a mess to clean up. Goodnight mother."

He walked out into the night, breathing in the cold air he closed his eyes. It was impossible to think inside the tent. He couldn't think even outside. His mother had been hiding something from them, how much he didn't know. Everything was spinning so fast he felt sick. He didn't notice to the man that drew back his hand and threw something small towards him, something small and silver. Sarah saw it. Someone else would have sacrificed themselves but Sarah had no intention of seeing anyone die. Instead of taking the knife she tackled Caleb to the ground, the knife sailing harmlessly over their heads. He leaned up and threw out his power.

"Thanks," Caleb said, getting to his feet and pulling her up with him.

"Anytime," Sarah said, "are you okay?"

"I will be," he said, "I have to get to the barn," he sighed.

"You want me to stay," she said dropping her eyes.

"You have to," he said, "i know you're safe here."

"I don't want to watch you walk away again," she said pulling back, "Caleb I can't just stay here and wonder if you've died!" she cried the last part, looking away shamefaced, "I can't."

"I'm sorry," he said hanging his head, "I can't take you with me."

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because I can't let you watch me die! Everyone else doesn't realize this but even if we survive, what then? I can't just go back to pretending to be normal. You have a future ahead of you, a future that none of us--that I can't have!" he ran his hands through his hair, frustrated, "maybe you were right, maybe we are moving too fast--"

"I get it," Sarah said throwing up her hands, "you think I'm not ready to be in this relationship. You think that Pogue and Kate get their fairytale ending and you get to be the angst-ridden anti-hero," she shook her head, "well I have news for you Caleb Danvers. I may not have been around you and your powers as long as Kate but I figured them out, I saw you for what you were long before Kate did."

"And what am I?" Caleb demanded, his voice sharp and his eyes darkening.

"You're Caleb Danvers," she said meeting his gaze levelly, "and you're the man I love."

With that, Sarah walked back into the tent. Caleb threw his hands up, completely lost as to his next move. Pogue led Kate out of the tent, followed by Reid, Tyler, the Envoy and Melanie. Pogue kissed Kate and together they walked towards the barn. Kate buried her face in her hands and sobbed painfully, telling herself that Pogue couldn't, wouldn't die.

...The Barn...

Back in the garden of roses, Claire dropped Chase to the ground and looked around. Bending down, she reached out and touched flower carefully, holding her ability in check. The strange magic seemed oddly natural, almost identical to the real thing. Standing up, Claire looked around the flowers with disgust written all over her features. Sonya picked her way through the flowers, careful not to destroy them either. She could have walked normally but the fact was the flowers could mean something and she didn't want to kill them.

Sonya stopped as she realized what Claire had said. Either Merrick had some really twisted sense of humor or he was planning something really sick. She had screamed for some kind of a response until she was hoarse. Even now she sounded like an old smoker. If they wanted her to sing they had another thing coming because it wasn't happening. She walked over to Claire and crossed her arms.

"This is all your fault," she accused, "roses? I remember someone's proposal involving red roses because white are 'sad'," Claire raised her eyebrows, "hello? Merrick?"

"Merrick didn't do this," Claire snapped.

"Oh yes he did."

"No he didn't."

"Yes he did, bet me money," she crossed her arms, "bet me."

Claire rolled her eyes and grabbed Chase's arms under his shoulders. Sonya picked his legs up and the two of them made their way to the center of the barn. Claire kicked out her legs and cleared a part of the roses to drop Chase into the cleared area. The two of them looked down at the body and back at the roses.

"You're blushing," Sonya said, "and if this is so offensive why aren't you destroying them?"

"Because I risk killing Merrick and when I rip him limb from limb I want to watch the light die in his eyes."

"You can be so scary sometimes," Sonya said shuddering, "where are they?"

"Here," Caleb said, "we're ready."

"I'm so glad," Claire snapped and looked at Tyler, "well?"

"I've got about thirty seconds," he said, already loosing color.

"Emily."

Everyone looked at the Envoy but she was looking at Tyler, who she was standing over. He did a double take, looking at her with shock written all over his features. To everyone's surprise, she blushed furiously and looked down before looking up at him again. She stepped back, away from his beginning Ascension.

"My name," she said, "when I'm not doing this," she motioned to herself, "my name is Emily."

"Oh for Gods sakes," Mel turned to Sonya, "you know what, you were right," she tugged off her dress revealing a tank top, shorts and gun holsters, "I may go to some magical hell for this but you have my word that I will do everything to make sure you and your friends are alive at the end of the night."

"What a relief," Claire said, "well then, Tyler?"

He threw his head back and screamed as the power raced through him. Through the light, they could make out the Witch Hunters, Parker and Merrick all watching him. Sonya toyed with the chain of the locket, her eyes on Chase's prone form. She knew, even with the spell, that the chances of them actually pulling this off were slim to none. Closing her eyes, she squeezed them tightly shut and told herself not to cry. Someone reached over and grabbed her hand. She opened her eyes and looked over at Reid. He grabbed the back of her neck and pressed his lips to hers.

"If we get through this I'm taking you on a date," he promised.

"When," she said, "when we get through this."

"When," he repeated as the light died down.


	17. An Affair to Remember Part 2

Sarah clenched her fists as she waited outside the bathroom for a heartbroken Kate. The light seemed to have completely passed the guests by but she had seen it. She looked at the ring on her finger and closed her eyes laying a hand against her eyes. She was beyond frustrated, feeling so useless that it was awful. What was she destined to be? Just some girl to be used against Caleb? Sarah could not and would not be that. She couldn't be some possession--

She stopped her mental tirade, the image of the locket in her mind. She ran her hands through her hair, her mind spinning faster than she thought possible. The idea she had sounded crazy but it was worth a shot. She ducked into the kitchen and asked the chef for salt. He passed her one of the big round containers and she thanked him before running out. Her shoes were low and were soaked through within seconds but she didn't care.

"What are you doing here?"

One of the Witch Hunters demanded looking at her. He wore a long blue cloak and carried two blades. Looking down at the salt she carried he looked back at the battle that raged.

"You know what to do with that?" he demanded, "get them in a completed circle, not Parker, not Merrick, just them."

She nodded. Wordlessly he pulled off his cloak and fastened it around her. SHe felt strange magic that made her head spin but quickly she pushed it back. He turned around and looked as the Covenant began to say the spell. Sarah knew she was going to have very little time. Running forward she opened the salt and slowly drew the circle. She heard them begin to question why the spell didn't work. She saw the Witch Hunters and Parker start forward and begin their attack but she didn't care.

Pain slammed into her side.

She ignored it. SHe ignored the blast that followed, everything going to drawing the circle around them. She felt her feet slow down and knew that she was going to be out before she could complete it. She threw the container out with a soft cry, the salt spraying everywhere but completing the circle. She fell outside it and looked over desperately as Parker attacked and the attack bounced back.

"What is this?" Parker demanded.

"Salt," Sonya said laughing, "nothing can get in or out--" she looked at the locket with a slow smile, "I many not be able to kill you, but I can do this," she tore the locket off and opened it.

Power shot out, ripping through the four members of the Covenant and Chase. It wasn't like Ascending, it didn't knock the wind out of them. The power flowed through them and blended seamlessly with their own, mixing until it was impossible to tell the difference. However every eye in the garden turned to Chase. He lay completely still for a heart beat longer.

Then he coughed and sucked in air, his eyes opening widely before falling back. The Witch Hunters were stunned, it showed on their faces. Even so, they slowly headed back and quickly left. Claire on the other hand pulled out Melanie's gun and pointed it at Merrick, Parker and his cronies. Sonya started forward, desperate to get to her and Mel even looked like she wanted to intervene. Then Claire smiled, pulled up the gun and called out to one of the Witch Hunters.

"I feel odd," Tyler said, "I mean, all this has been building up and now what? Its just over?"

"You are damn lucky its just over," Mel said, "whoever did the salt circle basically saved your lives," she looked at Chase who had passed out, "he's going to be pissed off when he wakes up.

"Yeah," Caleb said bending down and picking up the salt tub, "this is what the waiters use," he said, "who would have--"

He saw the blue cloaked figure and kicked a hole in the salt. In all honesty he expected it to be his mother on some quest for redemption. His heart in his throat, he lifted the limp body into his arms, his hands shaking. He couldn't loose his mother too, not after a fight. And then he saw the too dark chiffon that spread out across his knees and the snow like a stain. Suddenly all rational thought flew out of his mind. He practically ripped the hood off.

Blood stained the side of her face, still fresh enough to be wet. One of her arms was twisted oddly, probably broken. But it was her side that was where most of the blood was coming from. Her side and the part of her back next to it. The blue-green fabric had darkened so much that it was barely recognizable. On her right hand, the ring was bloody. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow.

"You said it would protect her," Pogue snarled looking at Melanie.

"It protects her against magic," she retaliated, "that wasn't done by magic."

"Sarah?" Caleb called softly, his voice thick and almost unrecognizable, "Sarah!"

She groaned softly and he almost passed out with relief. He looked up and felt even worse at the sight of Sonya who was staring very hard at the ground. Sarah winced and turned her face to his, opening her eyes slightly. They were glassy and unfocused but she recognized him.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," he got out past the lump in his throat, "why?"

"I red it," she said closing her eyes, "in one of the stories."

"Sarah, you have to keep your eyes open," Sonya said softly looking behind them at Chase.

"I'm so tired," she said breathing out.

"No," Caleb said harshly, "I left you at that party so you wouldn't have to watch me die," the next word came out as a sob, "I can't watch you die," she didn't seem to hear him, reaching up and placing her blood stained hand against his cheek. He covered it with his own, desperate for anything that would make her stay.

"I'm glad your alright," she whispered closing her eyes. Her hand fell away from him and she went horribly limp.

"No!" Caleb shouted burying his face in her shoulder, "get Chase," he got out next, the sound muffled.

Chase stepped forward, still stunned but very much awake. He stepped past them and knelt down in front of the lovers. Reaching out with his hand, he ripped open the cloak and the dress, exposing the gaping wound. He covered it with his hand, even though his hand wasn't quite big enough. At first nothing seemed to happen and then slowly muscles knitted back together and the skin stretched over the wound.

"He healed her," Claire said, stunned.

"Its the locket," Sonya said, "it has to be the locket. Its done something with their power--" she walked over and picked the small thing up.

"What's it done--" Claire paused at the sound of four bodies hitting the ground, "oh crap."

"How the hell are we going to get them into the car?" Sonya demanded.

...The Danvers Manor...

Chase Collins hated to wake up. Not a big secret but he had always hated it. He came too and pressed his hand to his forehead. Blinking he looked around the room. The last thing he coherently remembered was waking up in a hospital bed after his eighteenth birthday and hearing that his parents had died. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and got to the mirror. He stopped and touched his reflection. He knew he had some scarring from the car crash but this was just insane. Grabbing a t-shirt he opened the door and stopped.

"You," he said staring at the woman, "I've seen you before," he took a step back, "when I was thirteen and right before the car crash," he kept walking back, his spine hitting the wall, "what are you doing here!"

The door closed.

Downstairs, Claire looked up at the sound of the door slamming. She rubbed her forehead, feeling hung over. This was supposed to be over, but it felt like they were in the eye of the hurricane rather than through it. She pushed the coffee in front of her away with a grimace, the mere idea of food making her want to hurl. She dropped her hands and shook her head, trying to clear it. Something was wrong, she could fee it. Something had to be wrong, everything was so quiet as if the entire world were waiting.

"Claire."

Sonya put a hand on her shoulder and she jumped a mile into the air.

"Are you okay?" Sonya asked.

"This isn't over," she said, "it feels like its not over."

Sonya nodded and sat down, putting the locket on the table. She ran her fingers across it looking at Claire who nodded. Sonya opened the locket. For a second everything was pure white, pure, blinding white that made them shield their eyes and cover their ears. Inside the white was something neither of them could hope to explain. When it cleared, the two of them were flat on their backs on the ground. The locket was gone, a scorch mark on the table was the only sign that anything had happened.

That and the half naked man.

"Holy shit, that's not--" Sonya looked closely.

"No way," Claire gasped.

"Yes way," Sonya said delighted, "I don't believe it."

The man was pale, as if he hadn't seen the sun in a long time. His hair was un-naturally long and his face was hidden by a beard. He was tattooed, muscular and very not the Merrick that had betrayed them all. This was the Merrick that had been Parker's 2IC, the Merrick that had met Sonya the thief and Claire the whatever-Claire-had-been. This was the rich playboy who had done some very stupid and very noble things.

"So what happened to Merrick? Tanned-skin-happy-go-nice-Merrick?" Sonya asked, touching his arm, "jesus I forgot about how hot he was."

"Help me get him upstairs," Claire snapped grabbing one of Merrick's arms.

They dragged him upstairs into the bedroom. They threw him onto the bed. Sonya darted into the bathroom and grabbed a pair of scissors, shaving creme, a razor and a cup of water. She came back in and shaved Merrick's face before cutting off a large chunk of his hair. She stepped back and looked at him before looking at Claire who had been helping but not actually saying anything.

"Well?" Sonya prodded, "he's back, he's changed, he's actually probably been inadvertently resurrected, not to mention he didn't try anything last night and gave you a field of roses."

"He also betrayed, backstabbed and drugged me," she snapped.

"Hopeless," Sonya said, "you're hopeless."

"Good," she called as she walked out of the room. Sonya sighed and walked out after her.

Upstairs Caleb Danvers stumbled to his feet. He should be moving slowly and carefully and not like a madman. Even so his one thought was on the blond haired Sarah. He was in his room and he had no idea where she would be. He almost missed the bright yellow post it that said where she was. Without even putting on a shirt, he ran to the room and threw open the door. Part of him expected that she would be talking or laughing with Kate, that she would glare at him and tell him off for being so stupid. He wouldn't have cared, he wouldn't have even snapped back. That part of him was sorely disappointed.

The room was still as death, the only sounds were her soft breaths and his labored ones. She lay on the bed, still pale. Chase had healed her, but the healing itself had exhausted her body. Kate had cleaned her up washed the blood off and changed her cloths. She was wearing a tank top that had been pushed up and the blankets pushed down. The scar that started a few inches from her naval and wound across her back, almost past her spine, was an angry purple color. It would fade in time, but it would always be there.

He wanted to send her away. He wanted, with every bone in his body, to tell her that he was too dangerous, that she had too bright a future--a thousand different reasons. But he couldn't do that, he just couldn't. Before he realized it, his feet had taken him right to the bed. He was afraid to touch her, afraid of hurting her more. She was healed, physically, but she was so still it scared him.

Tyler.

Once again the knowledge struck him. For some reason he knew that Tyler could tell him if Sarah was alright. He had no idea how he knew it, he just did. Less than a minuet later Tyler was quietly opening the door. He stepped to the bed in a similar state as Chase had been in and looked at Sarah. He closed his eyes and laid a hand on her forehead. The voice that came out of him was his own and something else.

"She'll be alright, she's in pain but she'll be okay," he breathed out, "she needs rest, to regain her strength," he smiled, "and you to heal her heart."

"Tyler!" the Envoy came into the room, "come on," she dragged him out and shut the door looking at Caleb, "that locket really messed you five up. You're putting people into trances, Chase is freaking out in his room--" she shook her head, "we should have just destroyed that locket when we had the chance."

She shut the door with a little excessive force, leaving Caleb alone with Sarah. He looked at her, surprised by how weak he suddenly felt. He had no idea what was going on, none at all. And then he realized that Sarah had figured out something was going on with his powers. Sarah had realized that salt would protect them. He shook his head, dismissing the thought as stupid and cutting the train off quickly. Sarah breathed out softly and turned her head towards him.

And then the door exploded courtesy of the shock wave that blew through the hallway. Sonya and Claire raced up the stairs. The shock wave had come, not from Chases room but from Merrick's. Both of them traded a look and ran into the room as fast as they could.

"Damn it! This was supposed to be over!" Claire shouted, grabbing the door and yanking it shut.


	18. The Ending of an Era

The rain was fitting.

Inside the house was such a mix up of emotions, it made sense that outside it was the same way. Claire sat on one of the lawn chairs, her hands cradling her chin. The rain made a soft sound against the roof, he could feel the vibration against the soles of her feet. They had knocked Merrick out, unable to find another solution. Whatever the locket had done, it had resurrected his old power and that had blended with the elemental magic. He knew how to control it, hopefully, but until he was strong enough all he could do was generate random, devastating power bursts that would destroy everything.

Up until this point she had been fine and able to deal with everything. But this, this was insane. If Merrick was here then there was a very good chance that Parker still had a few more tricks up his sleeve. She wanted to believe that Sonya would kill him, she really did but she knew it was a waste of time. Sonya was many things but she was not and would not ever be a killer.

Claire wished she could go back to that point.

She knew she never could. She had killed for good reasons, bad reasons, reasons that may not have made sense to a lot of people. But the fact remained that she had killed and her hands were stained with blood--not innocent blood--but blood all the same. She looked back at the house and sighed. When it all came down to it, the people inside with the exception of Merrick and Melanie were, on some level, innocent. Even Sonya still kept some of the innocence, guarding it like a secret.

Claire closed her eyes tightly.

"I thought I'd find you out here."

Standing up, Claire turned around half expecting to see Merrick. Instead she was greeted with the sight of Chase. He looked different when he was awake. It was his eyes. They were an odd shade of blue-grey that seemed to almost glow. She imagined his eyes could look frighteningly cold. He was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and a jacket but it looked almost out of place, she was used to seeing him lying on his bed with nothing but a pair of sweatpants on.

"How did you--"

"Mel," he said shaking his head.

"Right," she said sitting back down slowly, "do you remember much?"

"The car crash," he said turning his hands over, "nothing more. Mel's telling me that a lot happened, and the way that everyone's walking around like I'm some kind of monster--" he let his sentence trail off with a shrug, "I never thought there were others out there like me, I mean my dad told me where I came from--or my bloodline anyway," he rubbed his scars, "I just don't know what I did."

"Its a long story," Claire sighed, "long and complicated," she shot him a sympathetic look, "and you can't be told it either--not without risking some kind of mental breakdown."

"I know," he said, his voice tight, "I know the basics anyway," he held shook his head, I'm supposed to be this healer and I can't even get rid of these scars."

"No," Claire said, "and you won't be able to ever, scars are a part of you--" she bit her lip, "just like that tattoo."

"Oh God," he blushed slightly, "how long have I been out?"

"Not too long," she said.

"I've lost an entire year of my life," he said softly, "where do I go from here?"

She reached out and covered the hand that he had on his scars with her own. He started at the contact, eyes widening. She felt an odd tingle in her own hand, her eyes widened at the contact before she composed her features and smiled warmly at him.

"Thats the million dollar question," she said pulling his hand down and lacing her fingers with his own, "lets go find the answers--"

He pulled her against himself and lashed out with his power. Reid was supposed to be strongest one, Caleb and Chase were supposed to be evenly matched and Claire had seen a lot of impressive attacks in her day but the attack that Chase launch left her speechless--or it could have been the arm pulling her against his broad frame. His eyes didn't snap to darkness but he threw out a hand. The power screamed forward, ripping through Parker like a knife through butter. For an instant it was as if the world had slowed and she could literally see the air ripple across Parker's body. And then the attack reversed itself, ripping back through him.

Parker had effectively been reduced to a stain in the grass.

Claire sucked in her breath and looked up at Chase. His eyes hadn't darkened, he hadn't technically used. It was whatever the locket had given him, something along the lines of healing--giving life, and killing--taking life away. Chase breathed in through his nose but gave no sign of being exerted in any way, much less effected. His eyes didn't widen in horror or leak tears like someone who had taken life for the first time. The looked older, as if he knew what to do and that he had to give a part of himself away to do it.

He had rescued her, he had rescued them all, sure, but he had rescued her. She may have been helped by people but the actual rescuing was always done by her and her alone. To have someone save her was quite terrifying. She stepped back carefully and Chase looked at her, his eyes going terrifyingly cold. That was like a challenge and she snapped right to him, her own eyes blazing. It was like some kind of twisted staring contest, his eyes impossibly cold and her own impossibly hot. Exact freaking opposites.

So when he grabbed the back of her neck and pressed his lips to hers, it was possibly the most confusing thing either of them had ever done. Her eyes widened in surprise and she sucked in her breath. Not a good idea because that involved opening her lips. In the next instant he felt her knees buckle and he pulled her flush against him. She held onto him, almost unable to tell where he ended and she began. No-one had ever saved her, no one had ever grabbed her and kissed her like he wad doing right then.

"Oh my God."

Sonya stood frozen a few feet away,her hands covering her mouth. Claire pulled back slightly and looked at her. Next to her was Reid. The situation could easily go two ways. One way was that she shoved Chase back, said it was a reward fro killing Parker and ignore the strange connection between them. The other way was that she accept the fact that she felt oddly connected to the scarred young man and not let Sonya's face haunt her.

"Hi Sonya," she said blushing.

"We're going to leave the two of you alone," Sonya said grinning widely and pushing Reid back into the house.

Claire looked back at Chase with surprise written all over her face. He looked equally stunned but neither of them looked particularly sad or regretful, just surprised. They were strangers, for better or worse. She only knew he had done something stupid and if he had talked to Mel, he knew the same about her. But for the first time when she looked at him, she thought that it was possible that just maybe it could work out.

Upstairs Sarah woke up with a soft sigh. She was in the mansion, she knew that much. Her body was sore, painfully so. She was careful to keep her movements slow and fluid, her skin feeling painfully tight. SHe looked to one side and saw Caleb. Blinking she looked at him carefully. He looked horrible, almost as bad that one morning he woke up after spending the night crying. He had fallen asleep on her bed, his hands wrapped around her own. Even in sleep his face didn't look peaceful, he looked drawn. She tried to push herself up and pain shot through her frame. She cried out before she could stop herself, falling back against the pillows as the world spun.

"Sarah!"

Someone called her back from the pain and she looked at Caleb desperately. He grabbed her hand and his eyes flared black. The pain dimmed slightly, just enough so she could breath again.

"Why did you do it?" he demanded, "you almost died!"

"And you would've if I hadn't stepped in!" she countered, "and do not try to push me away to save me," she argued, "so what if I have a bright future and the potential and whatever else--loving you won't take that away."

"Yes it will!" he shouted turning around, "it will, can't you see that? I can't pretend to be some high school kid anymore! Everyone has been protecting us from using these powers for anything," he gripped the window sill, his body shaking, "we've been condemning ourselves, we're the only ones who suffered from it," he pushed himself away, "I can't let that continue."

"What do you mean?" she demanded, carefully pushing herself up and cursing her body for being so weak, "Caleb what did you do?"

"I'm leaving," he said, "I already talked to Melanie," he looked down, unable to meet her eyes, "when she goes, I'm going with her. If the others want to come they can but if the don't its their choice. To keep the Balance we just have to be alive and in contact, nothing more."

"So thats it?" she demanded, her voice choked up, "you're just going to leave?"

"I'm going to redeem over two centuries of a big lie," he said walking to the door, "I know you don't believe me, but I love you."

"You're right," she said looking away as he closed the door.

...Downstairs...

Sonya sighed and looked at Reid who stared at her coldly. She had expected this reaction but it still hurt. She hated to admit it but she cared about the blond-haired boy and she felt bad for not telling him sooner that she had to leave. Finally he stood up and looked at her coldly.

"Well it was fun," he said, "sort of."

"I'm leaving, not dying," she snapped.

"No," he said hotly, "you're running."

"I am not!" she gasped, "Chase killed Parker, I have to go and make things right with a lot of people. Maybe this isn't the end, didn't that cross your mind?"

"It is the end," he snapped, "you're leaving."

"So is Mel," she countered, "you know what? You want to be a closed off asshole, fine. Go ahead angst boy. But I'll tell you right now that I had a good time and I don't regret what happened between us," she walked over to the stairs before marching right back to him and grabbing his phone, "I am programming my number into this thing," she snapped, "because you owe me a date."

She turned and walked up the stairs, packing quickly. With a sigh, Reid came into the room and flicked his fingers. His eyes didn't even darken but everything quickly moved around and folded itself into the duffle bags. She stepped back and looked at him but he walked away. Sighing, she sat on the empty mattress and buried her face in her hands.

"You know we have to," Melanie said.

"And Claire?"

"She's going to stay, along with the Envoy," she said, "or Emily, I suppose, to make sure that everything goes well."

"Right," Sonya said closing her eyes.

"Right," Mel said softly, "we're leaving in an hour. I suggest you say your goodbyes now."

"I will," Sonya said.

The three of them looked shocked at Caleb. Out of all the scenarios, all the places they saw this going, his announcement was not one of them. They had been brothers since they could walk, none of them had memories that didn't include each other. And Caleb was about to go and destroy that. He was leaving and from the looks on their faces, it was a journey he was going to make alone.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"No," Pogue said, "if you're doing this then you don't apologize for it," he looked Caleb squarely in the eye, "but you'd better come back."

"I'll try," he said sincerely.

"Take care of yourself," Tyler said firmly, "don't go trying to be a hero," he looked down, "we'll watch Sarah and your mother."

"Seriously," Reid said, "be careful because this last resurrection was a bitch and I don't want to do it again anytime soon."

"I'll do my best," Caleb said, "I'd better go and pack."


	19. The Next Great Adventure

It was odd to think that after everything that had happened, all that was left was a car purring outside and a few pieces of luggage. Reid, the Envoy, Tyler, Pogue, Kate, Claire and Chase had gathered to see Sonya, Caleb and Melanie off. Mel and Caleb were waiting in the car having said their goodbyes. Only Sonya was left. She had opened her mouth and already started to cry.

"I don't even know what to say!" she wailed, causing them to laugh. She joined in, "be careful, please and don't do anything too stupid," she wiped at her tears but they were replaced instantly, "or stupider."

"Be careful!" Claire said hurrying forward and hugging her tightly, "don't go kissing strange warlocks, brush your teeth and scrub behind your ears--all that stuff."

"You'd better not go kissing strange warlocks," the Envoys said, "who know where their mouths have been," she made a face before hugging her, "good luck."

Sonya hugged them and walked up to the Covenant.

"Thank you," she said weakly, "I don't know if we'll actually meet again but thank you. I really thought that there wasn't any good in this world, I really didn't and then I met you four and I see that there is. Thank you, I don't usually like to be proven wrong but in this case, I really do."

"It was our pleasure," Pogue said hugging her, "thank you for everything. Take care of yourself."

"I will," she said hugging him, "and I'll look after Caleb."

"We know," he said.

"I want you back for the wedding," Kate said hugging her.

"I will be," she promised.

"See you soon," Tyler said simply hugging her.

She stopped at Reid, almost unsure. He rolled his eyes and opened his hands, she immediately threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his shoulder and closing her eyes. He didn't say anything and neither did she, both not wanting to fight in what was their potential last words. Finally though she pulled back and wiped at her cheeks.

"Bye," she said picking up the last duffle and walking out to the car which pulled away and soon was gone.

"So," Claire turned to them, "I'll deal with Merrick, you two take care of Sarah," it was a minuet before they moved. Finally she clapped her hands and they started, looking at her as if she had grown two heads, "nothing is going to get done if we sit around and mope," she rolled her eyes, "honestly, its not like they fell off the face of the earth but Sarah's fragile right now and needs to be taken care of and I have to make sure Merrick doesn't blow up the house," she looked at the Envoy, "if you're staying, what do we call you?"

"Em," the Envoy said, "Em is my nickname."

"Okay Em," Claire said, "could you inspire some movement?"

"They've just lost their brother," she hissed.

"And they're going to loose this house if they don't move!" she glared at them and looked upstairs, "alright here I go to save the world, again. I'll call when I need help, again. And then we can do this over again and again," she continued her rant as she moved up the stairs.

"This will be okay, you know that right?" Em asked softly.

"We know," Pogue said pulling Kate against him, "we know."

...First Day Back...

Sarah shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Next to her, Chase shot her a concerned look and dropped his hand, touching her knee. The scar on her back stopped itching terribly and she shot him a thankful look. He was being stared at, openly, by many of the people in class and she felt bad for him. It was sort of weird to be back in classes but signs of life returning were all around them.

Kate was showing off her ring, proud of the engagement. Sarah had hidden hers away in a matchbox, unable to look at it. Claire had taken the box into her keeping. Merrick was finally awake but the last thing he remembered was Parker trying to kill him. Whatever feelings he had for Claire seemed to be strongly friendship based. The fact that Claire had a habit of disappearing for long periods of time with Chase certainly didn't leave hope for a relationship. Pogue was still racing, still fighting and still being Pogue, but there was a seriousness about him that had started to come through, a shadow of the man he would one day become. Tyler was still, well, Tyler. He seemed the most at ease around Chase and Sarah had a very big suspicion that he was developing a crush on Emily, but she couldn't be sure just yet. The two of them worked very well together.

Outside Reid was recounting some very interesting sexual conquest to a group of boys. It involved a woman in a white button down shirt and little else. The group were clearly impressed and Reid could feel his cool status skyrocketing. Not that it needed it or anything, but it was a nice band-aide on the gaping wound where his heart used to be. He hadn't realized how much Sonya had affected him. He knew he liked her but he had never been one to pine or to miss fighting with a particular girl. Sure he had a few random hook ups but every time he kissed a different girl, he just imagined it was Sonya. He was starting to gross even himself out. Someone prodded him for some stupid detail and he tried to get back into the story.

"Yeah mid-day," he muttered, suddenly distracted.

"Okay thats it," the locker next to his slammed shut, "I can deal with being some dirty romance novel style conquest but seriously."

Reid felt his jaw hit the ground. On the other side of the locker was Sonya Kendrick. She was tanner, her hair was shorter and there was a bandage across her cheek but she was there. Before he could stop himself, Reid grabbed the back of her neck and pressed his lips against hers. The catcalls in the corridor were lost on both of them.

"Don't think this lets you off the hook," Sonya said when they broke apart, "you owe me one spectacular date."

**Coming Soon:**

_**The Covenant III: Redemption**_

_**-When everything's changed, how will life go on? Merrick and Chase are missing major parts of their lives and want them back, however all signs point to Caleb holding the missing piece. Caleb's quest for redemption has made him fall off the face of the earth, the only thing they know is he's alive. Then, of course, there's the three confusing relationships, two heartbroken lovers, one couple attempting to plan the perfect wedding and the final question that must be answered: is pretending to be good and being good the same thing?**_


	20. REDEMPTION

This is to let you know that the Covenant III: Redemption is officially up and running.


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